Robert Steven Siverly, who has called himself “Casper” and the “Meth Magician” for his alleged ability to cook methamphetamine without detection, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison in for his recent conviction on drug conspiracy charges.

Earlier this year, Judge H. Dean Andrews handed down the sentence in Edgar County Circuit Court where a jury found Siverly guilty of several criminal drug conspiracy counts that included the manufacturing and possession of methamphetamine and drug-related child endangerment. The five-day trial took place even though Siverly had escaped from the Edgar County Jail and remains a fugitive from justice.

According to Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office prosecuted the case, the sentence “demonstrates that law enforcement will work aggressively to send criminals like Robert Steven Siverly away for a very long time.”

Judge Andrews sentenced Siverly to 22 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for criminal drug conspiracy with the intent to manufacture over 900 grams of methamphetamine, a “Super-X” felony. He also was sentenced concurrently to 18 years in the IDOC on his conviction of calculated criminal drug conspiracy, a Class X felony, and sentenced concurrently to six years for drug-related child endangerment, a Class 2 felony.

Testimony presented at Siverly’s trial centered on a large-scale methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution network masterminded by Siverly in which he would travel from downstate Edgar County to the Chicago area to purchase large quantities of over-the-counter cold medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, key ingredients in the manufacturing of meth.

Siverly was arrested in March 2004 in a drug store parking lot in Olympia Fields.

Madigan noted that before a new Illinois law restricting sales of such products took effect on January 1, 2005, downstate meth “cooks” like Siverly could hide behind their relative anonymity in large cities like Chicago to purchase the ingredients. The new law that Madigan helped draft and worked to pass limits sales to no more than two packages of regulated cold tablets per transaction and requires that the retailers keep certain products behind the counter or in locked display cases.

Other evidence presented at Siverly’s trial that led to his conviction of drug-related child endangerment established that on numerous occasions, he would manufacture meth in the presence of family members and children. In 2003, Madigan drafted and helped pass a law that doubles penalties for meth makers who manufacture the drug in a way that endangers children.

Bureau Chief Stephen Plazibat and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Hoppock prosecuted the case for Madigan’s Statewide Grand Jury Bureau. The investigation that led to Siverly’s conviction was a joint effort by the Edgar County State’s Attorney’s Office, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Vermilion County State’s Attorney’s Office, Illinois State Police, Edgar County Sheriff’s Department, Olympia Fields Police, Paris Police, Terre Haute, Indiana, Police and the Vigo County, Indiana, Prosecutor’s Office.