News : Center Point Felon Sentenced to Additional Prison for Escaping

            A previously convicted drug trafficker who escaped from a halfway house was sentenced on December 30, 2025, to a year in federal prison.

            Paul Dean White, age 35, from Center Point, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 16, 2025, guilty plea to escape from custody.

            Information from the plea and sentencing hearings showed that White was convicted in August 2019 for possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.  Overall, White was involved in trafficking more than 18 kilograms of ice methamphetamine.  White was eventually sentenced to 126 months in federal prison.

In August 2025, White was completing his prison sentence at a halfway house in Waterloo, Iowa.  White left the facility with permission, but did not return at the scheduled time.  Staff contacted White.  White told staff that he was not coming back and would rather go back to prison than be in the halfway house.  A week later, the United States Marshals Service arrested White.   

            White was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  White was sentenced to 12 months and one day of imprisonment.  He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  White is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

            The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by the United States Marshals Service.  Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 25-CR-2049.