Dawe Sentenced to 151 Months

Daniel W. Dawe, 48, of Pekin, Illinois, has been sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. The sentence, handed down by the Bureau of Prisons, will be followed by 8 years of supervised release.

The government presented evidence at the sentencing hearing that on November 5, 2019, Dawe was a passenger in a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation. Due to his status on parole, Dawe was searched, and officers found several individual baggies of suspected ice methamphetamine hidden on his person. A lab report later confirmed that the methamphetamine weighed 17.584 grams and was 100% pure.

Dawe admitted to purchasing approximately eight ounces of ice methamphetamine in the six months since his release from prison in June 2019. At the time of the offense, Dawe was on mandatory supervised release for the State of Illinois. He pleaded guilty to the sole count of the indictment on June 25, 2021, pursuant to a written plea agreement.

Dawe faced enhanced statutory penalties for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute due to his prior 2012 conviction for robbery, a serious violent felony offense. This conviction subjected him to a minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment, a minimum of eight years to life term of supervised release, and a maximum $8,000,000 fine.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pekin Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine G. Legge representing the government in the prosecution. Dawe has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals since his arrest on November 5, 2019.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF)’s National Methamphetamine Strategic Initiative, which aims to address methamphetamine trafficking and its consequences through a coordinated, multi-agency approach. The initiative targets the highest levels of drug trafficking leadership, using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven approach to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States. For more information on the OCDETF Program, visit https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The sentence handed down to Dawe reflects the severity of the crime and the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to combat methamphetamine trafficking in the region. As part of the OCDETF’s National Methamphetamine Strategic Initiative, this case demonstrates the commitment of federal, state, and local agencies to addressing the complex issues surrounding methamphetamine distribution and its impact on communities.