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CRIME

Palm Bay man sentenced to 17 years in meth case

J.D. Gallop
Florida Today
James Van Meerten

A 35-year-old Palm Bay man who prosecutors said brokered a deal to make bulk buys of crystal methamphetamine for local resales, was sentenced last week to 17 years in federal prison.

James Arthur Van Meerten was arrested in April as he traveled with a 3-year-old child, Palm Bay Police reported. Officers searched his truck and belongings and found 1.98 pounds of crystal meth, less than 20 grams of cannabis, nearly $17,000 in cash, and nine firearms, reports show.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza sentenced Van Meerten last week to federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, records show.

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Meerten pled guilty to the federal charges Sept. 7.

Palm Bay police had been watching Van Meerten as part of an ongoing investigation when he was spotted getting into a black Dodge Ram with the child in the back seat.

Police said Van Meerten drove to a storage facility on Minton Road. Officers then conducted a traffic stop.

Federal prosecutors said that Van Meerten had from February 2016 to April 2017, had made an agreement with several unidentified people with the understanding that he would make large purchases of crystal meth from an out-of-state supplier and then resell the items. A test of the crystal meth show it had an average purity of 99.5 percent.

Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration also investigated the case alongside Palm Bay police.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter at @JDGallop