Man pleads guilty in rocket-launching drug conspiracy case

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- They were smart enough to design a rocket that would shoot their drugs into space if they were caught by police. But they were not smart enough to remember to plug it in.

That little detail led two Kentucky men to prison, after they were stopped last summer with a homemade, cigarette-lighter-powered, drug-hiding rocket in the trunk of the car near Columbia.

Joseph Seidl, 39, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of participating in a conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Michael Sullivan, 41, pleaded guilty last month to his role in the conspiracy.

The two men were stopped on June 24, 2005, in Callaway County for speeding on Interstate 70. When Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Tommy Wally opened the trunk of the red 1990 Ford Thunderbird, he found a 4-foot-long cylinder stuffed with 2 pounds of methamphetamine.

According to an investigator's affidavit, the plan was to activate the rocket from the driver's seat, shooting the drugs from the trunk before officers could seize it. But the device wasn't plugged in, so it didn't go anywhere, police said.

According to an affidavit from Special Agent Steve Mattas of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the rocket was attached to an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys designed to lift it into an upright position once the trunk was opened. The bottom of the 4-foot-long rocket, which was about 4 inches in diameter, had eight explosive charges connected by a series of wires to a homemade switch in the front of the car.

The wires drew power from an adapter plugged into the car's cigarette lighter, Mattas said, adding that a highway patrol bomb squad found the device to be functional -- if it had been plugged in.

When the rocket was opened, law enforcement officials found two gallon-size Ziploc bags containing the methamphetamine. Three pipe bombs also found in the trunk were determined to be phony, Mattas said. But officers discovered more illegal drugs inside the bombs, along with $12,000 in cash, he said.

Seidl could be sentenced to 20 years to life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine of up to $8 million. A sentencing hearing has not be set.