U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
District of South Dakota

District of Minnesota

www.justice.gov/usao/sd

For Immediate Release

Monday, July 2, 2012

Colton Man Sentenced in Conspiracy to Destroy Evidence

US Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Colton, South Dakota, man charged with conspiracy to destroy evidence was sentenced on July 2, 2012, by Chief US District Judge Karen E. Schreier. Robert Butts, age 46, was sentenced to 18 months in custody concurrent with the sentence he is currently
serving in Iowa, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.

Butts was indicted for possession of an unregistered firearm and conspiracy to destroy evidence by a federal grand jury on January 5, 2010. He pled guilty to the conspiracy charge on March 1, 2012, and the firearm offense was dismissed.

While he was incarcerated in the Pottawatamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Butts called a person residing in Minnehaha County and asked that
person to destroy an AK-47-style rifle and another firearm to avoid having them used as evidence against him in a potential criminal prosecution.

This case was investigated by the U.S. ATF. Assistant US Attorney Connie Larson prosecuted the case. Butts was immediately turned over to the custody of the US Marshal.

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