BEATRICE – A Wilber man convicted of a drug charge was blunt, in Gage County District Court Thursday.


"I'm a meth addict, plain and simple. And, I just want to apologize to my family, my kids, my wife, the court...and everybody involved."


51-year-old Daniel Hile II was sentenced to 10-to-14 years in state prison for delivery of a controlled substance. The term announced by Gage County District Judge Rick Schreiner followed a joint recommendation by the state and defense.


The judge said Hile harms others by helping them be drug addicts.  "The damage you do to those people...their families, their communities, their workplace if they are able to work, their schools, the State of Nebraska...is immeasurable. No apology is going to fix that, ever."


Schreiner said Hile’s criminal history supported a prison term….and dates back to 1994. "Mr. HIle, it's time for you to put the shovel down...you're digging yourself a hole you can't get out of...and you need to stop."


Hile received credit for 549 days already spent in jail and could become eligible for parole in about four years. Three other felony charges and a charge of being an habitual criminal were dismissed, in the case.


Hile was arrested in January during a Beatrice Police drug investigation at a local apartment where Hile and another person had come from Lincoln…to sell methamphetamine.  During the arrest, authorities recovered two bags of methamphetamine weighing 13.7 grams for which Hile had been paid $350, by another person.