Poplar Bluff man sentenced in federal court on meth charge

A Poplar Bluff, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to life in prison on a felony methamphetamine charge.

Dennis Ray Capps, 38, was charged with one felony count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, according to a news release from the United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of Missouri.

On July 28, 2011, Capps was stopped by Missouri State Highway Patrol near Sam A. Baker State Park and arrested on an active warrant. A search of his vehicle yielded six ounces of high-grade methamphetamine. Capps said he had been selling methamphetamine by the ounce and the drugs recovered were the remains of half a pound he received from his supplier. Capps said that he had dealt with the supplier for about a year, obtaining up to two pounds of methamphetamine at a time. Capps was convicted by a jury May 30, in the United States District Court in Cape Girardeau.

Capps has two previous felony drug convictions. In 2002, he was sentenced to eight years for felony manufacturing methamphetamine and sentenced to seven years for felony of possession of methamphetamine. Because Capps was in possession of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and the two prior felony drug convictions, he faced a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.