A Mount Pleasant man will spend almost 12 years behind bars for dealing drugs.

According to United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum, U.S. District Court Chief Judge John A. Jarvey Wednesday sentenced 32-year-old Robert Dean Stagers to 140 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. Stagers was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay $200 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.  

In March 0f 2018, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Mount Pleasant Police Department, and Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement began an investigation after discovering Stagers had  become a supplier of methamphetamine in the Southeast Iowa area. Stagers knowingly distributed methamphetamine to his purchasers who then distributed to others. In 2019, a search warrant executed on Stagers’ residence in Mount Pleasant found a safe containing over 132  grams of methamphetamine and seven loaded guns.  During a search of a vehicle associated with Stagers, officers found four more firearms. Stagers admitted he knowingly carried and used  these firearms in the furtherance of drug trafficking.  

The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.