Waukon man pleads guilty to charges from Decorah meth lab

49-year-old Dale Smerud of Waukon has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to manufacture and deliver methamphetamine.

Smerud was arrested by Decorah Police in a raid on a house at 2705 College Drive.  In entering a guilty plea Tuesday to the conspiracy to manufacture meth charge, Smerud admitted that a plastic Gatorade bottle seized by police held methampethamine.

In exchange for Smerud's guilty plea to the first charge, three other charges filed against Smerud were dismissed.  He was ordered taken to the state prison in Oakdale, where he will have to serve at least six and 2/3rds years of his term before becoming eligible for parole.