A Chicago man was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in federal prison for distribution of methamphetamine in southeast Iowa.

According to court documents, 42-year-old Joshua Adam Townsen admitted to distributing approximately 220 grams of methamphetamine to a man named Gilbert Ellis in October 2022. Ellis was sentenced to 20 years in prison last October for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin near a school in Burlington. Townsen and Ellis were two of eight individuals implicated in the drug conspiracy. Following Townsen’s sentence, he will be required to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Southeast Iowa Narcotics Taskforce, Drug Enforcement Administration, Burlington Police Department, Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office, West Burlington Police Department, Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Lee County Task Force, Muscatine Task Force, Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Johnson County Drug Task Force, Ottumwa Drug Task Force, and the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Team in Illinois.