Sloan Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Charges
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who conspired to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and distribute and possess pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine pled guilty on July 26, 2010, in federal court in Sioux City.
Derek Earl Byers, age 26, from Sloan, Iowa, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and possess pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine and one count of traveling in interstate commerce between Iowa and Nebraska to facilitate the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances.
At the plea hearing, Byers admitted that, between January and July 2009, he and others manufactured methamphetamine and distributed pseudoephedrine used to manufacture methamphetamine. Byers traveled from Monona County, Iowa, to South Sioux City, Nebraska, to purchase pseudoephedrine.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Donald E. O’Brien will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Byers remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Byers faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment with a possible maximum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment, a $2,250,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and at least 4 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 by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Monona County Sheriff’s Office, the Onawa Police Department, and the Iowa State Patrol.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10-CR-4010.
