West Plains Man Sentenced for Meth, Firearms

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a West Plains, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for manufacturing methamphetamine and illegally possessing several firearms.

Russell Scott Adams, 33, of West Plains, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 12 years and eight months in federal prison without parole.

On July 10, 2014, Adams pleaded guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Adams’s residence on Aug. 23, 2010. During the execution of the warrant, Adams was home with his infant son. Officers found items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, including Pyrex dishes, glass jars filled with bi-phase liquid that contained methamphetamine, empty bottles of lye and coffee filters containing pill waste. Officers also found a loaded Savage .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle, with no serial number, under the bed in the main bedroom.

Officers discovered a functioning methamphetamine lab in a second trailer, which contained glass jars, bottles containing acid, PH strips, a respirator mask, bottles of lye, liquid ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, tubing, a Coleman burner, numerous coffee filters containing lab by-product, bottles filled with bi-phase liquid and a surveillance camera. Also found in the second trailer was a Kimel Kamper .20-gauge shotgun and ammunition.

On Dec. 18, 2012, deputies with the Howell County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department received information that Adams was traveling in grey vehicle in Howell County. At the time, Adams had several felony warrants for his arrest. The deputies observed the vehicle and attempted to stop it. After a brief pursuit, the vehicle stopped in front of a residence and Adams got out of the vehicle and began running across the yard toward the house. Officers took Adams into custody. Inside Adams’s boot, officers discovered two rounds of .38-caliber ammunition and one round of .45-caliber, ammunition. On the front seat of the vehicle, they found a Taurus .45-caliber semi-auto pistol that had been reported stolen a few months earlier.

Adams admitted that he was also in possession of a loaded Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver on June 21, 2012.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Adams has a prior felony conviction for distribution of a controlled substance.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Howell County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the West Plains, Mo., Police Department, the South Central Drug Task Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.