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Federal prosecutors came to court hoping to send a drug dealer away for up to 171/2 years.

But at the end of a 21/2- hour hearing Friday, they were able to walk away with only a 30-month prison term for Haijun Tian, a Chinese national whom authorities once called the "highest-level synthetic designer drug trafficker apprehended to date in the United States." He has already served about half the sentence.

"He is a vile individual, a parasite on American Society," federal prosecutor Michael Chmelar said during the often-testy hearing.

Tian, 33, however, was an indirect beneficiary of a 2013 explosion at his Chinese synthetic marijuana manufacturing plant, and the continual game of cat and mouse between law enforcement and drug manufacturers involving the addictive drug that is often called spice or K-2. Despite its name, the drug has little similarity to conventional marijuana.

As the federal government declares various compounds used to make the drug illegal, manufacturers scramble to create new components that they use until those are declared illegal.

Because of the explosion, U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said, he could not be convinced that Tian was responsible for manufacturing the synthetic designer drugs for export to the U.S. after 2013 — even though Tian had signed a plea agreement acknowledging he was "responsible for manufacturing" synthetic marijuana in China.

Authorities have identified between 200 and 300 new designer drugs from eight different structural classes, the vast majority of which are manufactured in China. The substances inside are powerful drugs that have been linked to violent behavior.

Tian was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2014 as part of a sting operation that ended when he flew to the U.S. to meet a customer who had become a confidential informant for federal law enforcement.

His arrest received national attention as the Drug Enforcement Administration painted him as a kingpin in the illicit industry. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee on three felony counts for making spice in China and distributing in various spots in the U.S., including the Milwaukee area.

The synthetic marijuana, or cannabinoids, that Tian was accused of making in China and shipping to the U.S. is Ab-Fubinaca, known as ABF, a compound that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not declare a Schedule I controlled substance until February 2014. China did not outlaw the substance until October 2015.

There is "virtually no evidence of record ... to suggest Mr. Tian was involved in the manufacture (of ABF) after the explosion in his plant," Stadtmueller told prosecutors, adding that prosecutors did not prove he was still involved in the manufacture of ABF after it was outlawed in the U.S.

Even though Tian agreed last year to one count of importing ABF to the U.S., whether he oversaw the drug's manufacture and distribution is a key factor in sentencing, as those actions would increase the length of the potential sentence suggested by the federal sentencing guidelines.

Chmelar, however, repeatedly argued that the plea agreement signed by Tian, his attorney, Michael F. Hart, and prosecutors states: "Beginning no later than 2011 and continuing until March 2015, Haijun Tian was responsible for manufacturing synthetic cannabinoids at a manufacturing facility located inside the People's Republic of China" and that he sold the substance in China and the U.S.

Chmelar said Tian's operation produced about 4,000 pounds of synthetic marijuana a month.

The plea agreement also notes that Tian knew that ABF was declared a Schedule I controlled substance in February 2014 because the confidential informant working for law enforcement sent Tian an email at the time telling him the substance was illegal.

A couple of weeks later Tian agreed to ship 8 kilograms of ABF to addresses in Oak Creek and Florida in exchange for $8,000, emails used as evidence show.

Tian sat quietly during the proceedings as a translator spoke to him in Chinese. Through the interpreter, Tian told Stadtmueller that he apologized for his actions, and now reads the Bible daily. He has been jailed since his arrest last year.

"I didn't know the product I sold to the U.S. caused so much harm," he said through the interpreter, adding that he deserved to be punished.

"I'm not coming in and saying he should be hailed as a champion," said Hart, who after the hearing praised Stadtmueller for handing down a "thoughtful and reasoned sentence."

Chmelar rushed out of the courtroom after the hearing and declined to comment. During the hearing, he argued that Tian operated for years "causing illness and death to his own people, adding later that Tian "knew what he was producing and ... he did not care."