Meth theft nets Missouri man eight years

Newark, Ill.-The state’s attorney doesn’t think eight years in prison is overly severe for a Missouri man who teamed with a partner to steal anhydrous ammonia from a Newark co-op and sell the agriculture chemical to meth makers in Illinois and Missouri. “Given his background and the nature of the offense it’s not stiff at all,” Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis said of the sentence handed Michael Ray Miller, 52, of Wappapello, Mo., for unlawful possession of anhydrous ammonia in the theft last Dec. 1. “We take it very seriously combining the anhydrous ammonia and the methamphetamine problem,” Weis remarked. He said the 1,100 pounds taken from four tanks at Elburn Co-op facility was enough to make a lot of meth. The two were arrested when a Kendall County sheriff’s deputy saw them filling a tank with anhydrous ammonia from a large storage tank at the co-op. The two suspects also had three other tanks in their possession that had been already filled. Weis said that Miller later admitted that he and his co-defendant had traveled from Missouri to Illinois with empty tanks in their vehicle to steal the anhydrous ammonia, and that their intent was to take the anhydrous ammonia and sell it to meth manufacturers. The case against Miller’s partner is pending.