Four defendants from the group arrested as a result of Operation Buckshot, the cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the sheriff's departments of Vernon, Barton, and Jasper counties, CNET (the Community Narcotics Enforcement Team), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the police departments of Lamar and Nevada, have pleaded guilty to various charges.

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Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman said that he believes this is the first group of people to have pleaded guilty in the case and predicted there would be more pleas in the case.

"Kutina (Joseph M. Kutina, 31, Milo) is still pending," Peckman said. "There are still more to come, there were 22 federal indictments and we seized guns, money and cars in the case."

Brandon R. Stone, 26, of Nevada, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England to the charges contained in an Oct. 3, 2007, federal indictment of participating in a conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of pure methamphetamine from December 2005 to Aug. 31, 2007.

Stone also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm.

Stone admitted that he was in possession of a Savage Arms .22-caliber rifle on July 11, 2007, in Vernon County while illegally using a controlled substance.

Roderick P. Conway, 37, of Lamar, Dustin L. Vittetoe, 34, of Horton, and David C. Paniagua, 39, of Highland, Calif., have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.

Each one of the defendants admitted that the amount of pure methamphetamine attributable to him is more than 1.5 kilograms.

Under federal statutes, Conway could be subject to a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine of up to $8 million.

Vittetoe could be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole, up to life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine of up to $8 million.

Stone and Paniagua each could be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine of up to $4 million.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Peckman said it would be at least several weeks before sentencing would take place.

"That's in the court's hands," Peckman said.

Operation Buckshot was announced Sept. 5, 2007, at the United States Attorney's office in Springfield. Seventeen people were arrested and the investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 38 pounds of methamphetamine, in excess of $100,000, four vehicles and 89 firearms, along with more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and blasting caps.