January 05, 2010
Contact: Thomas E. Murphy
Number: (314)538-4660
Three Defendants Plead Guilty to Meth Conspiracy
Meth Ingredients Stolen at Gunpoint on Super Bowl Sunday
JAN 05  -- 
( 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. S entencing 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.