Delmont couple plead guilty in meth case

ARMOUR — A Delmont couple arrested in January on felony drug charges pleaded guilty Thursday to possession and keeping a place for the use or sale of a controlled substance.

Brent and Devon Loneman, husband and wife, were arrested Jan. 24 after law enforcement officers conducted a search warrant and found methamphetamine in their home at 306 W. Main St. in Delmont.

The hearing Thursday at the Douglas County Courthouse was set for 9:30 a.m., but was postponed for an hour while Brent Loneman’s lawyer, Scott Podhradsky, of Wagner, apprised his client about a plea agreement arrangement. When the Lonemans appeared before Judge Bruce Anderson, Douglas County State’s Attorney Craig Parkhurst said there was a complaint filed to initiate the case, but no information, which lists the formal charges against the Lonemans.

“We don’t even have information?” Anderson asked. “Can we get it?”

Anderson delayed the case for one more hour to allow Parkhurst to get the information into the file.

Two and a half hours after the couple should have been in court, their hearing began.

Brent and Devon Loneman each pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine or both. They also each pleaded guilty to one count of keeping a place to use or sell a controlled substance, a felony with a maximum punishment of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.

In return for their guilty pleas, Parkhurst agreed to drop a felony manufacturing charge, and misdemeanor charges of ingesting an intoxicating substance, and possession of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.

Judge Anderson asked Devon Loneman, who was represented by Tim Whalen, of Lake Andes, why she pleaded guilty to the charges.

“We had methamphetamine in our house,” she said as she twisted from side to side in her swivel chair.

The judge asked her how she knew it was meth.

“Because we made it,” she said.

She continued to answer his questions, stating that the meth she and Brent Loneman made was stored in a Tupperware container, that it amounted to more than a gram, and that she agreed the state chemical lab findings were correct that the residue tested was meth.

Parkhurst said a factual basis for count two — keeping a place for the use or sale of a controlled substance — was that the garage was set up as a meth lab with filters and other equipment that the state chemistry lab tested positive for meth.

Brent Loneman pleaded guilty based on the entire factual basis to which Devon Loneman pleaded guilty.

Judge Anderson ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for May.

Tags: our towns, news, updates, breakingnews, delmont, armour, crime, courts