Beardstown Man To Serve 12 ½ Years In Federal Prison For Methamphetamine Manufacturing Conspiracy

Springfield, Ill. – Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Mills last week sentenced Clay Lewis, 38, of Beardstown, Ill., to 151 months (12 years, 7 months) in prison for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, to be followed by eight years of supervised release. At the time of the offense, September 2012, Lewis was on probation for a prior state felony drug charge.

Lewis pled guilty on Apr. 23, 2013, to a single count of conspiracy to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. In court documents and court hearings, Lewis admitted that on Sept. 14, 2012, when Illinois probation officers administered a drug test at his home, in the 200 block of Clay Street, there was an active meth lab in his garage along with various remnants of prior meth manufacturing activity as well as items commonly used to manufacture meth. Lewis admitted that he had frequently manufactured methamphetamine in his garage for a year, and that he used and sold the meth he cooked.

Lewis was arrested on Sept. 14, 2012, and has remained detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Lewis was sentenced on Aug. 22, 2013.

On Sept. 19, 2013, Lewis’s co-defendant, Kyle Hogan, 30, also of the 200 block of Clay Street, Beardstown, Ill., is scheduled to be sentenced. On May 31, 2013, Hogan entered a plea of guilty to conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. Hogan has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest, on Sept. 14, 2012.

The investigation was conducted by the Illinois State Police, the Beardstown Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Illinois Department of Corrections’ Probation Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan D. Freres in cooperation with the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office.