Hiawatha man to serve 20 years in federal prison for making meth 

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Hiawatha man who endangered the life of children and adults with a fire he ignited while cooking meth in a mobile home was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Thursday.

U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade sentenced Michael Lala, 27, to the maximum sentence for his crime. The meth fire harmed a 14-year-old and a co-conspirator who were asleep at the time on Nov. 13, 2013. Reade said the fire also damaged five other mobile homes and put five children and six adults in a harmful situation.

Lala pleaded guilty in January to one count of attempt to manufacture methamphetamine. Lala admitted during the hearing that he cooked meth numerous times between April 2012 and May 2014, as well as recruited others to purchase pseudoephedrine to make the drug. In the Nov. 13, 2013 incident, Lala was cooking meth when the bottle he was using tipped over and started a fire.

During Thursday's hearing, Lala said he made many 'poor choices,” and showed no respect for the law and other people. He said his drug addiction got him to this point and he wanted a future without addiction and crime. He told the judge he wanted to change.

Reade told him she hoped he would make good on that promise and wished him well.