NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

JANUARY 4, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THREE DEFENDANTS PLEAD GUILTY

TO METH CONSPIRACY

METH INGREDIENT STOLEN AT GUNPOINT

ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY, USED TO MANUFACTURE

OVER $1 MILLION WORTH OF METH

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that three more defendants pleaded guilty in federal court today to charges related to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine following the theft of a 50-kilogram (110 pounds) drum of pharmaceutical pseudoephedrine powder in an armed robbery and kidnapping at the Sanofi-Aventis U.S., LLC pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Kansas City, Mo. The pseudoephedrine was used to manufacture more than $1 million worth of methamphetamine.

James Robert Everson, Jr., also known as “Bimbo,” 42, of Kansas City, Kan., Micah Lee Boley, 48, of Grain Valley, Mo., and Eugene Edward Dove, 43, of Meriden, Kan., pleaded guilty in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple this afternoon to participating in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine between June 1, 2006, and May 2, 2009.

Everson admitted that he and co-defendant Shawn Anthony Clinkenbeard, 38, of Peculiar, Mo., entered the campus of Sanofi-Aventis on Feb. 2, 2007 – two days prior to the robbery. Everson, dressed in black clothing, remained hidden within the facility until approximately 6:20 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007. The robbery was planned to coincide with the beginning of Super Bowl XLI.

Everson telephoned the Sanofi-Aventis security enclosure and asked for the security guard to go to the men’s locker room to recover a lost wallet. The security guard declined to go. Shortly afterward, Everson took the guard hostage at gunpoint and handcuffed her to a mechanical chase.

Everson then removed four 50-kilogram drums of pseudoephedrine powder from a secure cage. Everson returned to the mechanical chase in which the guard was handcuffed and discovered her on a cellular telephone with a 911 operator. He took the guard’s electronic badge and cell phone and returned to the location of the pseudoephedrine drums.

At approximately 7:15 p.m., Clinkenbeard drove a vehicle – later identified as a GMC flat bed truck stolen from the on-site construction area – to the dock area. Everson moved one drum of pseudoephedrine through the facility by dragging it with a rope, but the other three drums were abandoned inside the facility. Everson dragged the drum to the door by the dock area, where he and Clinkenbeard loaded it into the back of the vehicle. They left the facility in the stolen GMC truck, using the security guard’s electronic badge to open the secured chain link exit gate. They loaded the stolen drum of pseudoephedrine into Clinkenbeard’s van, which was parked a short distance away, and abandoned the truck. They unloaded the stolen drum in Everson’s garage.

Everson maintained possession of the pseudoephedrine and initially coordinated and controlled all activity involving the pseudoephedrine. Clinkenbeard was paid by Everson as a split of the proceeds from the sale of the methamphetamine that was manufactured using the pseudoephedrine. However, after believing he was being cheated, Clinkenbeard made arrangements to conduct his own methamphetamine manufacturing. Everson continued to maintain possession of the pseudoephedrine, but Clinkenbeard arranged to receive pseudoephedrine when he needed it to manufacture methamphetamine.

In addition to the conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, Everson pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine and a conspiracy to commit money laundering, and to kidnapping, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and robbery.

In addition to the methamphetamine conspiracy, Boley also pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine.

Everson and Boley also admitted to the government’s forfeiture of real estate that was involved in the conspiracy, or purchased with the proceeds of the conspiracy.

Clinkenbeard along with co-defendants John Robert Christian, 25, of Peculiar, and Clair John Easterbrook, Jr., also known as “Homie,” 46, David Douglas Margita, 29, of Kansas City, Mo., and Jimmy Wayne O’Neal, 36, and Robert William Webb, also known as “Butch,” 62, both of Kansas City, Kan., have also pleaded guilty to the charges contained in a May 19, 2009, federal indictment.

Under federal statutes, Everson and Boley are each subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. Everson is also subject to a mandatory sentence of at least seven years in federal prison without parole, to be served consecutive to any other sentence. Dove is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades. It was investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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