WICHITA – A Great Bend man has been sentenced to federal prison for more than 15 years for trafficking in methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Friday.
 Mark R. Wintholz, 45, was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison. Wintholz pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In his plea, Wintholz admitted that investigators served a search warrant May 2, 2011, at his home at 3119 25th St. in Great Bend. They seized about a quarter pound of methamphetamine and more than $5,000 in cash.
Grissom commended the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst for their work on the case.
Officers from the BSCO and GBPD executed search warrants at three Great Bend residences, including Wintholz’s, last May, and reported they had recovered “a sizeable amount” of crystal methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $13,000.
BCSO Detective Rick Popp explained that “crystal meth” or “ice” has a different appearance than “rock” methamphetamine, which is more commonly produced in this area. Ice is usually brought into Kansas from other states or from Mexico.
 “Typically, the meth that we find being produced here is made with household products and has a more grainy appearance,” Popp said in 2011. Typically a rock is 27-40 percent methamphetamine, mixed with other ingredients. Ice is purer — containing about 90 percent meth — and has the appearance of shards of ice or glass.