(Sioux City)– A Ruthven man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine in the Okoboji area.
27-year-old Ryan Stearns received the sentence after pleading guilty in January of this year to one count of conspiring to manufacture and distribute meth within a thousand feet of the Okoboji Elementary, Middle and High Schools and conspiring to possess and distribute pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture meth; and one count of traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate the activities charged in the conspiracy.
During his plea hearing, Stearns admitted that from January 2002 through January 2007 he and others manufactured and distributed several ounces of meth and distributed pseudoephedrine in the Okoboji and Ruthven areas. Others purchased pseudoephedrine pills in Sioux Falls, Worthington, Spencer and the Iowa Great Lakes. According to court documents, those people then took the pills to Dickinson, Clay and Palo Alto counties and gave them to Stearns so he could make meth with them. Court documents say Stearns also gave his pill suppliers a portion of the meth he made. Documents say Stearns manufactured meth between 80 and 100 times.
In addition to the prison term, Stearns must also serve 10-years of supervised probation.
Stearns is being held in the custody of a U.S. Marshal pending transport to a federal prison.
