PEORIA, Ill. – A Pekin man will be spending the better part of 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Thursday to federal drug charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Harold Shane Koch, 42, was also ordered by a judge to spend five years on supervised release afterwards. Koch pleaded to counts of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, and Possession of Meth with Intent to Deliver.
Prosecutors say Koch sold ice methamphetamine to an undercover informant twice between August 2019 and February of last year, when he was arrested. Quivey says it happened in both the Pekin and Peoria areas.
“The high-purity methamphetamine we are seeing in the Central District of Illinois is cheap, highly potent, and readily available,” said Quivey, in a news release. “It’s a drug that can bring out the absolute worst in people, its addictive qualities make it difficult to quit, and it wreaks havoc in our communities. Our office will continue to work with law enforcement to steadily target the drug dealers who peddle this highly addictive substance to users.”
Quivey said Pekin Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency worked on the investigation, as part of a larger federal effort to try and get meth off the streets.
