TWO FROM AREA PLEAD GUILTY TO DRUG COUNTS

Two Southeast Missouri men pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to charges related to manufacturing methamphetamine.

Mark Mock, 31, of Butler County, pleaded guilty to manufacturing meth and faces 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

John David Childers, 35, of Mississippi County pleaded guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting in an attempt to make meth and faces no less than 10 years in prison and a $4 million fine.

Mock told officers of the SEMO Drug Task Force he and Marty Nicolini had made meth in a home near Poplar Bluff. When they arrested him he was carrying meth and admitted to producing 40 to 50 grams of a mixture containing meth.

Officers asked Childers if they could search house. They found pseudoephedrine pills cooking on his stove.

Cooking the pills is the first step in making meth. Childers also had a clear container with coffee filters, tubing, a glass jar, five lithium batteries, drain cleaner, bottles and a set of scales -- all items needed to cook meth.

Sentencing for the men has been set for May 30.