A man who manufactured and distributed methamphetamine in Clay County, Iowa, pled guilty on March 30, 2010, in federal court in Sioux City.

Michael Donald Stevens, age 30, from Royal, Iowa, was convicted of one count of conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine where children under the age of 18 were present and one count of manufacturing or attempting to manufacture methamphetamine.

In a plea agreement, Stevens admitted that, between February 2006 and February 27, 2009, he and others manufactured and distributed over 50 grams of methamphetamine and distributed and possessed pseudoephedrine in the home where his three minor children lived. An October 10, 2008, search of Stevens’ rural Royal home resulted in the seizure of items used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Stevens was previously convicted in July of 2002 in Sac County of possession of pseudoephedrine, possession of anhydrous ammonia, and possession of lithium to manufacture methamphetamine and child endangerment; in November of 2003, in Buena Vista County, he was convicted of delivery of a controlled substance; and, in January of 2005, in Ida County, he was convicted of of manufacturing a controlled substance, possession of pseudoephedrine, and possession of ethyl ether to manufacture a controlled substance.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Stevens remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Stevens faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment because of his prior felony drug convictions and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a $8,000,000 fine, a $200 special assessment, and 10 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Fletcher and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 09-cr-04059.

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