CEDAR RAPIDS — A 51-year-old Dubuque man charged in connection with the death of a Platteville man July 4, 2012 was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday.

Alvin Stanley “Junebug” Briggs Jr. pleaded guilty June 13 to one count of distribution of heroin resulting in death and four counts of distribution of heroin. Briggs was also sentenced to five years extended supervision.

In U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids June 13, Briggs admitted that he sold $100 in heroin to a man  named in the federal grand jury indictment as “S.R.” on July 3, 2012.

Stephen Todd Rech, 28, Platteville, was found unresponsive in the front yard of a house on the 500 block of Cedar Street the next day just before 3 a.m. Rech was pronounced dead at Southwest Health Center in Platteville.

According to the detention order that held Briggs without bond earlier this year, Briggs told Platteville Police Detective Matthew Harcus that he had been “selling heroin and crack cocaine for the past four to five years.” The detention order also said that Briggs told federal authorities that, except when he was in prison, Briggs has used a half-gram of heroin daily for the past 10 years.

Briggs was also charged with selling to a Dubuque police confidential informant 0.11 grams of heroin Jan. 9, and between 0.04 and 0.07 grams of heroin three times between Jan. 29 and Feb. 6 for $50 each.

The sales took place within 1,000 feet of Prescott Elementary School and Jackson Park in Dubuque, according to federal court records.

Briggs was on probation on a 2012 conviction for two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Briggs has what the detention order called “an extensive criminal record,” including a three-year prison sentence on charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, a two-year prison sentence on a California conviction for sale or transport of marijuana, and a 2009 conviction for possession of a controlled substance.

Briggs’ criminal record also includes convictions for theft, burglary, disorderly conduct — solicitation of a lewd act, possessing or selling a stolen vehicle, and charges of aggravated assault, operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of burglar tools, and criminal trespass.