United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BENTON, IL. - Stephen R. Wigginton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced that a Carterville man was sentenced on June 1, 2011, in United States District Court at Benton, Illinois, on a one count indictment charging him with Possession of a Listed (Pseudoephedrine) Knowing it Would Be Used to Manufacture a Controlled (Methamphetamine).

Eric T. Shafer, 36, of Carterville, Illinois, was sentenced to serve 132 months in federal prison, to pay a $500 fine and to serve three years of supervised release following his incarceration. The violations took place from September 2007, through October 2010, in Jefferson and Franklin counties in Illinois.

At his plea, Shafer admitted to the court that he would obtain pseudoephedrine pills for use in manufacturing methamphetamine. The methamphetamine produced was then used by him and or sold to others in Southern Illinois. Records from several merchants throughout Southern Illinois showed numerous purchases of pseudoephedrine by Shafer during this period.

This investigation was conducted jointly by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Illinois State Police, the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force, and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.