Mallard man gets 22-year prison sentence

A 41-year-old Mallard man was sentenced to 22 years in prison for distributing more than 150 grams of methamphetamine in Palo Alto County and Clay County.

Kenneth Putensen received the prison term after an April 3 guilty plea to one count of having been previously convicted of two felony drug offenses and then conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.

He was also convicted of possessing pseudoephedrine with the intent to make methamphetamine as well as distributing and possessing pseudoephedrine knowing it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine.

At the guilty plea, prosecutors said Putensen admitted that he and others manufactured and distributed more than 150 grams of methamphetamine in northwest Iowa between late 2005 and July 2007. He also purchased large amounts of pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in cold medicines, from stores in Iowa and Minnesota.

The first of his two previous convictions came from the Sioux Falls, S.D., area for felony possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute in 1990.

On July 7, 1997, he was convicted in federal court for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.

Putensen is being held in the United States Marshal's custody until he can be transported to federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Kevin Fletcher of the U.S. Attorney's Office with the help of sheriff's offices in the Iowa counties of Palo Alto, O'Brien, Clay and Dickinson. The Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Martin County (Minn.) Sheriff's Office and its county attorney's office assisted in the investigation.