A federal jury in Nebraska has found a Kansas man guilty of possessing an analogue drug for bath salts found in his car during a traffic stop in 2010 -- before bath salts were added to a list of controlled substances.

Steven Miles Sullivan, of Lawrence, Kan., was indicted in U.S. District Court in Lincoln after he was stopped for speeding in Otoe County on Oct. 27, 2010, and told the deputy he had K2 and a bag of bath salts in his vehicle.

Neither was illegal by state law at the time, although each is now.

Last week, the jury sided with the government in finding Sullivan guilty of possessing a "structural analogue" with intent to distribute.

In other words, it is substantially similar to the chemical structure of an illegal, controlled substance, has a stimulant, hallucinogenic or depressant effect on the central nervous system similar to the controlled substance and has a substantially similar effect on the human body as the controlled substance it mimics.

Defense attorney Glenn Shapiro argued that Sullivan was an innocent wholesaler who legitimately bought the product online -- when it was legal -- and was up front with law enforcement about having it.