The latest arrest in the nine-month drug investigation by the Greene County Sheriff’s office occurred Monday when an arrest warrant was served to a Rippey man.
Zachary Lee Flinn, 28, of 106 E. Percival St., Rippey, was charged with controlled substance violation, third or subsequent offense possession of a controlled substance and ongoing criminal conduct-influence enterprise.
The incident leading to Flinn’s arrest began about 3 p.m. May 21 near the intersection of 310th Street and Iowa Highway 144 in rural Rippey, where a traffic stop was initiated on a vehicle in which Flinn was a passenger.
Flinn voluntarily surrendered “a purple-tinted plastic baggie with 4.7 grams of a white crystalline substance consistent with methamphetamine,” according to court records.
Flinn allegedly told the deputy that “it was his” meth and he “purchased it from an individual in the Des Moines Metro area,” according to court records.
Flinn was identified as a person of interest in an investigation that began in early September 2020 and included a search of some 4,509 pages of Facebook Messages over six months and the interview of numerous persons of interest.
The investigation identified a number of people allegedly involved in “a large drug network in the Greene County area and the city of Perry occurring over several years,” according to court records.
Search warrants were executed March 16 at two Jefferson residences, leading to the seizure of “suspected marijuana, methamphetamine, prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia,” according to court records.
Four arrests in the investigation were made in March of men from Jefferson, Grand Junction and Perry.
A warrant for Flinn’s arrest was ordered June 22 in Greene County District Court and served Monday. Flinn is held in the Greene County Jail on a $55,000 cash or surety bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing June 30 in Greene County District Court.
Flinn was convicted of first-offense possession of a controlled substance-marijuana in 2017 in Dallas County District Court. He was convicted of second-offense possession of a controlled substance-marijuana in 2018 in Dallas County District Court.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
