News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 5, 2005

MASSACHUSETTS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES OF MANUFACTURING METHAMPHETAMINE

Kevin M. Foley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Washington Division announced today that Steven Winfield Tomershea, age 40, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, pled guilty in federal court in the Western District of Virginia to charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.

These charges arose out of an investigation into methamphetamine manufacturing operations in Washington County, Virginia that began in 2002 and culminated in the arrest of Tomershea at the site of a methamphetamine laboratory in Meadowview, Virginia on April 11, 2004. The investigation revealed that Tomershea, who was residing in Sweetwater, Tennessee, throughout the this time period, manufactured methamphetamine in Tennessee and at various locations in Washington and Grayson counties, Virginia, for distribution in Southwest Virginia.

It was determined that between 2001 and April 2004, Tomershea manufactured more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine, earning in excess of $300,000. A significant amount of this methamphetamine was sold in and around Washington County, Virginia or traded for precursor chemicals necessary for manufacturing methamphetamine. Individuals who distributed methamphetamine for Tomershea also learned to manufacture from him. Since 2003, at least five co-conspirators who sold methamphetamine for Tomershea, or supplied him with precursor chemicals, have been convicted on federal drug manufacturing charges stemming from methamphetamine laboratories in Washington and Smyth counties, Virginia. Cases against two other alleged co-conspirators are awaiting trial.

Tomershea faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or a fine of $8,000,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 21, 2005 in the federal courthouse in Abingdon, Virignia.

This case was investigated by DEA’s Bristol Post of Duty, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Virginia State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer R. Bockhorst.