(Sioux City)—A Ruthven man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to meth charges.
27-year-old Ryan Stearns entered the plea to two counts: one of conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine with a thousand feet of the Okoboji Elementary, Middle and High Schools and conspiring to possess and distribute pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine; and one count of traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate the activities charged in the conspiracy.
Stearns admitted that from January 2002 through January 2007 he and others manufactured and distributed several ounces of methamphetamine and distributed pseudoephedrine in the Okoboji and Ruthven areas.
Others purchased pseudoephedrine pills from Stearns in Sioux Falls, Worthington, Spencer and the Iowa Great Lakes. The individuals returned with the pills to Dickinson, Clay and Palo Alto counties and provided them to Stearns so he could manufacture meth. Court documents say he then gave his suppliers a portion of the meth. In total, the documents say Stearns manufactured meth between 80 and 100 times.
Stearns will be sentenced once a pre-sentence report is prepared. He is currently free.
He faces a minimum of 10 years imprisonment with a maximum of up to life and a fine of up to eight million dollars on the first count. He faces no more than five years imprisonment and up to a 250-thousand dollar fine on the second.
