Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer — An Ironwood man, prosecutors said was a major player in the Gogebic Range drug trade, was sentenced to at least eight years in prison in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday in a pair of cases against him.
Adam Lee Stone, 36, of Ironwood was sentenced to between eight and 20 years in prison on a charge of delivery/manufacturing of methamphetamine; the most serious of the four felonies Stone pleaded guilty to in September.
“After processing these recent drug cases since I took office in January, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mr. Stone is one of (the key players), if not the key player, in our current war on drugs in the Gogebic County area,” Prosecutor Nick Jacobs told the Daily Globe when Stone pleaded guilty in September.
On Tuesday, Jacobs called Stone a “one-man crime wave,” mentioning six other defendants who have either been sentenced already or were at some stage in the legal process and connected to Stone in some way.
On Sept. 23, Stone pleaded guilty to two felonies in each of the two cases against him — the methamphetamine charge and possession of a controlled substance on library or school property in one case, as well as possessing a firearm by a felon and assault with a dangerous weapon charge in the other.
On Tuesday, Stone was sentenced to two to four years for the possession on school property charge, 29 months to five years on the weapons possession charge and two to four years for the assault charge.
The guilty plea came as part of a plea agreement that had a combined seven other counts Stone was facing dimissed at sentencing.
The charges came from two incidents. The first, which took place on Jan. 13, involved Gogebic County Sheriff’s deputies and Michigan State Police troopers responding to a Snowdrift Street, Ironwood Township, residence after receiving a report of a serious assault taking place there. The other case stemmed from a Oct. 22, 2015 incident when Ironwood Township resident Donald Kirby picked up a safe containing a variety of drugs from his brother, Mykahl Kirby’s house. When Donald Kirby pleaded guilty in May to the charges he was facing, he testified Stone owned the safe.
During the sentencing hearing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Michael Pope noted that in the 18 years that had passed since Stone turned 17, he had spent 12 of them in prison.
Following the sentencing, Stone’s attorney — Matthew Tingstad — told the Daily Globe he felt it was an equitable plea offering and noted the judge followed the sentencing recommendations from the Department of Corrections.
Tingstad also said he hopes the sentence allows Stone to get the substance abuse treatment he needs.
Stone received 293 days credit for time previously served, and all four sentences will be served concurrently.
