MIAMI MAN TO SERVE LIFE

TULSA - A Miami man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for exchanging
methamphetamine for sexual favors and other crimes related to a three-state
drug conspiracy ring based in northeast Oklahoma.

Steven Lynn Mann, 43, was also fined $20,000 for conspiring to produce and
distribute methamphetamine in northeast Oklahoma and extending into
southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri.

Prosecutors charged that as much as 44 pounds of methamphetamine came from
pseudoephedrine pills obtained from a Miami liquor store.

According to a federal court records, prosecutors believe Mann's drug
trafficking activity began in 1996, but most of the evidence collected
centered on activity in 1998 and 1999.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Raley said the life sentence shows how
severe federal drug sentences can be.

The attorney also noted that Mann's activity had an impact on many lives.

Mann was arrested Feb. 15 by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Joplin,
Mo., after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Tulsa.

U.S. Senior District Judge H. Dale Cook ordered that Mann undergo drug
abuse prevention treatment while he is imprisoned.