November 30, 2022 9:00 a.m.

A California man with multiple prior felony drug trafficking convictions over more than two decades was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday, after he was arrested for transporting nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine from California to Oregon.

A release from the U.S. Attorney’s office – District of Oregon, said that 42-year old Jose Baldemar Izar of Lancaster was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison.

According to court documents, in October 2020, investigators from the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team received a tip that Izar was trafficking drugs from California to Oregon for distribution in the Roseburg area. Further investigation revealed that Izar was in frequent contact with several suspected methamphetamine dealers in the Roseburg area and that he was known to drive vehicles rented under another name.

On March 17, 2021 DINT officers learned that Izar would be traveling to Douglas County. The same day, they stopped a rented vehicle in which Izar was a passenger. Investigators searched the vehicle and located more than 1,700 grams of meth, a small quantity of heroin and drug packaging materials.

The next day, Izar and a co-conspirator were charged by criminal complaint with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Later that year on August 19, Izar and a co-conspirator were charged by criminal information with conspiring with one another to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On November 3, 2022 Izar waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

The case was prosecuted by DINT and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.