Federal prosecutors have charged a 43-year-old Lawrence man with two counts of distributing methamphetamine after officers investigated him for several months.

After a hearing Tuesday, Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara Tuesday ordered Joseph Henry Hibbs Jr. to be held in federal custody while his case was pending.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, Douglas County Sheriff’s Detective Chris Thomas said investigators believed Hibbs had supplied methamphetamine for various deals made around Lawrence since October, including ones at a house near Woody Park in the 200 block of Maine Street.

Thomas said Hibbs was arrested Feb. 22 in Kansas City, Kan., and believed to be in possession of methamphetamine at the time. Thomas wrote in the affidavit that Hibbs owned a camper and was letting a parole absconder named Joshua Sexton, 26, of Leavenworth, live in it in North Lawrence.

Law enforcement officers arrested Sexton in the 500 block of Locust Street last October for an alleged parole violation, and a Leavenworth County bomb squad had to respond to disarm a homemade explosive device inside.

A confidential informant told officers that he had bought methamphetamine from Sexton and that Hibbs was his supplier, according to Thomas’ affidavit.