DAVENPORT, Iowa — A Davenport man who admitted buying pound quantities of methamphetamine for distribution in Chicago, and who was arrested a second time while carrying multiple pounds of the drug and two loaded firearms on the road back to Iowa, has been sentenced to 340 months — more than 28 years — in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa announced.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Baylee Andrew Snyder, 29, was sentenced on October 27, 2026, for three offences: conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offence, and possessing a firearm as a felon. United States Attorney David C. Waterman made the announcement.

340 monthsFederal prison sentence — over 28 years
~1 lbMeth found with Snyder in January 2025, plus two loaded guns
Multiple lbsMeth seized in the May 2025 arrest, with two more loaded firearms
5 yearsSupervised release to follow the prison term

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, the case against Snyder was built in two stages, five months apart, on the road between Iowa and Chicago.

January 2025: a pound of meth and two loaded guns

In January 2025, Snyder was found in possession of approximately one pound of methamphetamine and a loaded revolver in his vehicle, with a loaded pistol on his person, prosecutors said. Snyder admitted that he purchased pound quantities of methamphetamine for distribution in Chicago and that he worked with others to distribute methamphetamine within the Southern District of Iowa — the federal court district covering Davenport and the Quad Cities.

May 2025: arrested again on the Chicago–Iowa run

A few months later, in May 2025, Snyder was arrested again, this time while travelling from Chicago to Iowa with multiple pounds of methamphetamine, two loaded firearms and almost $2,000 in cash. Prosecutors said Snyder admitted he had continued to work with others to distribute pound quantities of methamphetamine in the Southern District of Iowa, while carrying multiple firearms for protection.

The combination in the charges mattered at sentencing. Federal law treats carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking offence as a separate, serious count on top of the drug conspiracy itself, and Snyder was also charged as a felon in possession — meaning the court record treated his possession of the guns as unlawful in itself because of a prior felony status.

The Quad Cities corridor

Davenport is one of the Quad Cities, the group of Iowa and Illinois cities on the Mississippi River linked by Interstate 80 and Interstate 74, about a three-hour drive west of Chicago. The corridor is a working freight route as well as a passenger route, and federal drug cases in the Southern District of Iowa repeatedly involve methamphetamine moving between Chicago and the Quad Cities in pound quantities, as the admissions in this case describe. For Punjabi truckers who run I-80 across Iowa, the case is a reminder of how closely this corridor is policed for drug loads moving in ordinary vehicles.

The case was investigated by the Bettendorf Police Department — Bettendorf is Davenport's neighbouring Quad Cities community in Iowa — and announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office after sentencing.

What happens next

After completing his 340-month prison term, Snyder will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. The U.S. Attorney's Office noted the standard rule for federal sentences: there is no parole in the federal system, so the term is served in full subject only to limited good-time credit. Snyder was 29 at sentencing, meaning the sentence extends well into his late fifties before supervised release begins.