MAN TO FORFEIT FEED STORE IN STATE METH-SUPPLY CASE

MUSKOGEE -- A Sallisaw feed store owner must surrender his business and its
bank accounts after a federal jury convicted him on 12 charges related to
selling iodine crystals to produce methamphetamine. Donald LaCruce Miller,
62, also faces the possibility of prison time and millions of dollars in fines.

Miller remained in custody Wednesday after being found guilty of conspiracy
to distribute listed chemicals, four counts of possession and distribution
of listed chemicals, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and five counts
of money laundering, said D. Michael Littlefield, assistant U.S. attorney
for Oklahoma's eastern federal judicial district.

Miller, who had no prior record, will forfeit his feed store -- Miller Farm
Center -- and its assets, including two bank accounts, to the government.
Littlefield said the value of those assets has not been determined.

The conviction came after a four-day trial as witnesses testified that
Miller sold huge quantities of iodine crystals to people in Oklahoma,
Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, knowing they would be used to manufacture
methamphetamine.

Iodine crystals are one of three main ingredients for methamphetamine,
which has ballooned in both manufacturing and usage in recent years.

Miller bought nearly 5,000 pounds of iodine crystals for resale -- enough
to treat the cuts on some 800,000 horses. Littlefield said Oklahoma has
about 300,000 horses, and that method of treatment is outdated. Once
combined with other ingredients, the iodine would have produced $37 million
worth of methamphetamine at street prices, he said. Sequoyah County, where
Miller lived and worked, has one of the highest rates of meth production,
Littlefield said.

Catching Miller involved undercover purchases by an agent from the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration, plus help from the Internal Revenue
Service, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Sequoyah County sheriff's
office, and Sapulpa and Sallisaw police departments.

Miller faces up to 170 years in prison and a maximum of $4.25 million in
fines. A federal judge will decide his punishment later.