A Sturgis, Michigan man, who is currently facing state murder charges for the 2010 death of 26-year-old Nicole M. Millsaps, was sentenced in federal court on Monday on drug manufacturing and firearms convictions.

35-year-old Simon Douglas Smith of Michigan was sentenced to 24 years in prison for “One Pot”  methamphetamine manufacture and  firearms charges for incidences that ended in 2010.

Smith was originally arrested on charges of methamphetamine manufacture and firearms when Anchorage police found a “one pot” method meth lab in his vehicle as well as several firearms in May of 2010. Smith was released on bail, only to be arrested with the same type of equipment and firearms one month later in June of 2010 by Alaska State Troopers. Smith was indicted on federal drug manufacture and weapons charges by a federal grand jury in 2010.

According to prosecutors, Smith would use other people to steal or buy cold medicine for him to avoid purchase limits and reporting requirements.

It was also in that time frame, before Smith’s first arrest in May, that Nicole Millsaps went missing.

Smith was scheduled to be sentenced one year ago,  on February 7th, 2014, but asked for a postponement. The very next day, February 8th, Millsaps remains were found near Indian at a location that Millsaps and Smith were known to have been camping in May of 2010. Autopsy fopund that Millsaps had been shot once in the right rear of the head. A .32 derringer was found buried at the base of a tree approximately 30 feet from where Millsaps’ skull was found by a hiker.

Smith was charged with her murder in state court on March 20th of 2014. During his time in jail awaiting trial on the federal charges, Smith allegedly gave details of Millsaps murder to a confidential informant placed in his cell for that purpose.

At his sentencing, United States District Court Judge Timothy Burgess described Smith as the “Johnny Appleseed” of “one pot” meth production, pointing out that Smith not only cooked meth himself but taught others the method, even while he was incarcerated awaiting trial.

Judge Burgess described the impact as “exponential” and pointed to numerous lives destroyed by Smith’s actions. Smith has “the opposite of the Midas touch,” since everyone he touched was harmed. Judge Burgess commented that Smith “blazed a trail filled with misery, tragedy, and ruin.”

According to documents, even though the judge described Smith as “extremely dangerous,” and stated that the public needed long-term protection from him, Burgess declined to consider the murder of Millsaps when sentencing Smith.

Smith is scheduled to go to trial for the murder of Millsaps in late April.

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