Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A former youth sports coach on Wednesday admitted arranging to have sex with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The “girl” was really an undercover St. Louis County police detective.

Trevor White, 41, of Fenton, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted as part of his plea agreement that at 10:33 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2023, he initiated a text message conversation with a 13-year-old girl. White was friends with the girl’s parents. White asked for her photo, and in a series of messages about her clothing and their past interactions, sought a “positive response” from the victim. He ended by sending her a photo of himself shirtless.

The victim reported the suspicious conversation to her parents, who then contacted St. Louis County police detectives. The teen’s parents allowed a detective to use her phone, assume her identity and continue the conversation. Over several days, White became increasingly sexually explicit and sought to arrange a meeting so they could engage in sex. He also sent two explicit photos. 

On September 29, St. Louis County detectives arrived at White’s home to interview him. White admitted participating in the text conversations, admitted asking the teen for a photo of herself engaging in sexually explicit conduct and admitted arranging to pick her up and take her to a park to have sex with her. 

White is scheduled to be sentenced July 16. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a man from St. Ann, Missouri to 18 years in prison for two carjackings and for shooting a store clerk in the mouth during a robbery. 

On Dec. 26, 2021, James Furlow carjacked a 2017 Kia Sorrento SUV at gunpoint. He then tried to break into an ATM by shooting at it. 

Later that day Furlow and Monya Jones robbed a Quick Mart in St. Louis County. Furlow shot the store clerk in the mouth during the robbery, seriously injuring him.

Four days later, Furlow carjacked a 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan at gunpoint. After police spotted him, Furlow fled, first in the stolen SUV and later on foot, but was caught in a basement.

A dating app was used to set up both carjackings.

Furlow, now 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of carjacking and one count each of possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, robbery and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Jones, now 23, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty to one robbery charge and one charge of possession, brandishing and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Judge Autrey sentenced Jones in February to 13 years and 10 months in prison.

The St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Ann Police Department, the Overland Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassandra Wiemken is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

ST. LOUIS – A woman from O’Fallon, Missouri on Wednesday admitted submitting a series of fraudulent applications seeking pandemic loans totaling more than $1.6 million. 

Dearika L. Binion, now 36, of O’Fallon, Missouri, was successful in obtaining two loans totaling $75,600.

Binion pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday to three counts of bank fraud.

As part of her guilty plea, Binion admitted submitting a false and fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) application to the Small Business Administration (SBA) on April 10, 2020, on behalf of Domi More, a company she registered in 2014. The application falsely inflated the number of employees, the gross revenues and costs of goods sold for the company. As a result of the fraudulent application, the SBA approved the loan and transferred $22,000 to Binion’s credit union account. She withdrew $6,000 in cash from that account on June 17, 2020, the same day it arrived, and another $13,000 the next day.

On July 8, 2020, Binion submitted another fraudulent EIDL application, this time on behalf of MTRLSTC LLC. She again lied about employees, gross revenues and cost of goods sold and falsely certified that she had neither submitted nor received any compensation for disaster losses. The company received a $53,600 loan on Aug. 3, 2020.  Binion spent $45,244 on retail purchases and payments for prior retail purchases. Another $5,181 was used to pay a Chase credit card bill and $2,235 was transferred to others via Cash App.

On July 20, 2020, Binion submitted a fraudulent EIDL loan application seeking $59,500 for Bella Skin Spa LLC, but that loan was not approved. 

On Sept. 23, 2020, Binion submitted another fraudulent application seeking $264,800 for Bella Skin Spa. This time she listed the company as a sole proprietorship and altered other information in the application but was still not successful in obtaining a loan. 

She tried a third time after filing a registration of fictitious name with the Missouri Secretary of State for Bella Skin Spa on Jan. 21, 2021. On Feb. 4, 2021, she submitted a fraudulent EIDL loan application seeking $1.2 million. The SBA did not approve this application.

There are no employment records on file with Missouri’s Department of Labor indicating that Domi More, MTRLSTC, or Bella Skin Spa had any employees during 2020.

Binion is scheduled to be sentenced July 10. Each bank fraud charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the St. Louis County Police Department.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, violent street gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The St. Louis Gateway OCDETF Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI, IRS, USSS, USPIS, USMS, St. Louis County Police Department, St. Charles County Police Department and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a man from Florissant, Missouri to 105 months in prison for robbing two area banks and a fast-food restaurant with what appeared to be a handgun.

Judge Autrey also sentenced Ricardo L. Rusan, 58, to an additional 24 months in prison for violating his supervised release in a 2005 bank robbery case. 

On Jan. 1, 2019, Rusan robbed a Church’s Chicken in Green Park, in south St. Louis County. On April 16, 2019, he robbed a Commerce Bank in Clayton. Two days later, he robbed a Bank of America in St. Peters.

Rusan pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in August to two counts of bank robbery and one other robbery charge.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Peters Police Department, the Clayton Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassandra Wiemken prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – Two men have admitted stealing mail from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes in the St. Louis area to obtain checks that were then used to commit bank fraud.

Dareon Graham, 23, of Ferguson, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday to one count each of conspiracy to commit mail theft, bank fraud and possession of stolen mail matter.

Tyrell Hardin, 21, of Hanley Hills, pleaded guilty on March 4 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail theft and two counts of mail theft. 

Both men admitted in their guilty pleas that between roughly January 2022 and October 2022, Graham organized a conspiracy in which Graham, Hardin and other co-conspirators would steal mail from Postal Service collection boxes to obtain personal and business checks. Graham obtained a stolen key used to open collection boxes and gave that key to Hardin. Graham agreed to pay Hardin to steal mail and told him to target specific collection boxes in and around St. Louis County. Hardin then gave the stolen mail to Graham, who opened the mail and removed checks. 

Early on the morning of Jan. 10, 2022, Hardin stole mail from collection boxes outside U.S. Post Offices in Clayton, University City and Richmond Heights, using a stolen Dodge Challenger. Later that same morning, St. Louis County Police found the stolen car near Hardin’s home and recovered a large amount of stolen mail in the trunk.

On Jan. 21, 2022, Hardin stole mail from collection boxes outside U.S. Post Offices in Ferguson, Clayton, Brentwood, Richmond Heights and the Gravois location in St. Louis. On Jan. 25, 2022, Hardin texted Graham a photo of ten checks that he had taken from stolen mail that belonged to businesses and individuals located in St. Louis. The ten checks were made out in various amounts totaling $32,792.

On Oct. 7, 2022, Hardin unsuccessfully tried to steal mail from collection boxes in Wildwood and Chesterfield.

In addition, Graham used the stolen checks to commit bank fraud. Graham altered the checks and deposited them into bank accounts belonging to 11 people he had recruited via Instagram and other means. The account holders provided debit cards, PINs and other banking information to Graham in exchange for a portion of the proceeds from the deposits. Graham would either deposit the fraudulent checks himself, typically in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $12,000, or give the account holders the fraudulent checks. These deposits occurred at ATMs and bank branch locations in St. Louis County, St. Louis City and St. Charles County.

During the scheme, Graham deposited or caused the deposit of fraudulent checks totaling at least $103,457 and obtained at least $46,434 in proceeds, his plea agreement says.

Hardin is scheduled to be sentenced June 4. Graham is scheduled to be sentenced July 3. The charges of conspiracy, mail theft and possession of stolen mail matter are each punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. The bank fraud charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Maryland Heights Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department, Chesterfield Police Department, Frontenac Police Department, St. Peters Police Department and Town and Country Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Friday sentenced a Sikeston, Missouri man with over a dozen criminal convictions who was caught with a firearm to 200 months in prison.

Milton Napoleon Porter, 41, pleaded guilty in November to the offense of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm and admitted knowing that he was prohibited from possessing a gun because of his status as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, officers with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety were dispatched to a reported vehicle break-in on East Kathleen Street last July. Porter was located at the scene. When he saw the officers, Porter jumped over a fence and ran away. During a foot pursuit, Porter tossed a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol on the ground. He was apprehended moments later. A criminal background check revealed Porter had 13 felony convictions, including multiple convictions for domestic assault.

After serving his sentence, Porter will be placed on supervised release for a period of five years. This case was investigated by the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester handled the prosecution for the government.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Friday sentenced a Canadian man who used sleight-of-hand and other ruses to steal $109,000 from retailers in at least 11 states to 15 months in prison.

Judge Pitlyk also ordered Mohsen Akbari, 38, to repay the money. About $75,000 has already been seized from Akbari’s accounts.

During a nearly six-month crime spree, Akbari targeted retailers in Missouri, Illinois and at least 11 other states. After making a small purchase, Akbari tricked store employees into handing over cash. He sometimes claimed that he and his family collected $100 bills and would ask the cashier if he could examine the bills in the register. Akbari would then surreptitiously place some of the bills into his sleeve or pocket.

Locally, Akbari stole a total of $2,420 from a Walmart in St. Peters, Missouri on June 12, 2023, $6,900 from a Granite City, Illinois store on June 13, $420 from an O’Fallon, Missouri store on June 14 and $900 from a store in Warrenton, Missouri the same day. He stole $580 from a Walmart in Eureka, Missouri and $5,100 from an Arnold, Missouri Walmart on June 15.

Akbari admitted stealing a total of $109,452. 

Homeland Security Investigations, the Eureka Police Department and the Arnold Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Thursday sentenced a man who committed six armed robberies in a three-month period in 2021 to 17 years in prison.

Bruce Franklin, 64, admitted robbing a Family Dollar store and cell phone stores, including two cell phone stores that he targeted twice. Franklin robbed the Boost Mobile store at 3636 Page Boulevard on August 26 and September 10, the T-Mobile at 4167 Lindell Boulevard on September 4 and September 20, the MetroPCS at 3949 Lindell Boulevard on September 17, and the Family Dollar at 11123 Bellefontaine Road in St. Louis County on October 27. Franklin stole cash from registers, and in one case, a handgun belonging to an employee.

Franklin was accompanied by Kristie Meeks during the September 17 and September 20 robberies. Meeks, 48, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty September 27 to two counts of robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Ross sentenced her to eight years in prison in February. 

Franklin pleaded guilty in October to six counts of robbery, one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Dunkel prosecuted the case. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday sentenced a registered sex offender to 40 years in prison for soliciting sex from two minor victims via social media.

Thomas J. Bowles, now 48, of St. Charles County, Missouri, repeatedly contacting a female minor on social media from Jan. 1, 2020, to Aug. 20, 2020. He offered to become her “sugar daddy” and offered money, a cell phone and clothing in exchange for sex acts and for providing him pornographic pictures and videos. 

Bowles also offered to be the “sugar daddy” to a second minor via Snapchat, and claimed he could mentor her in the modeling industry. In 2020, he met the victim multiple times and gave her cash, liquor, clothing and prescription drugs in exchange for sexual contact. He also made video recordings of those sex acts on two occasions.

In a victim impact statement to the court, both victims said Bowles was relentless in his attempts to contact them. “He was obsessed with me, and no matter how hard I tried to get rid of him he would always find another way,” the first victim wrote. He contacted her friends, left voicemails, drop things off at her house and drive by. “It got to the point where I felt like I was always being watched. I was scared for my life because he knew where I lived and who I hung out with,” she wrote, adding that she was in constant fear that he would kidnap or kill her.

The second victim said she had left home and was couch hopping and had no way on her own to get to work “so I was easily persuaded to cave into the nonsense that I was being fed on SnapChat by Thomas.” She wrote that she tried to stop. “I completely lost myself. I was talked into some crazy stuff that breaks my soul to live with.”

Bowles used aliases that prevented the victims from discovering that he is a registered sex offender. Both victims told Bowles that they were underage.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said Bowles intentionally manipulated and exploited “particularly vulnerable children.”

Bowles pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in November to one count of sex trafficking of a child, two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, one count of production of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography. 

The FBI, St. Charles County Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jillian Anderson and Nathan Chapman prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A man has been indicted on a federal charge and accused of secretly recording women in the St. Louis area.

Erik Elsasser, 37, was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis March 27 on one felony count of distribution of child pornography. He pleaded not guilty Thursday.

The indictment accuses Elsasser of distributing images and videos containing child pornography online between August 2022 and August 2023. 

A motion seeking to have Elsasser held in jail until trial says he surreptitiously recorded a partially nude 17-year-old female in a store changing room on Aug. 18, 2023. Investigators found other videos made in changing rooms, as well as nearly 200 successful or attempted “upskirt” recordings and three recordings of a woman using a residential bathroom, taken through a window, the motion says. There were also indications that some of those videos, as well as child sexual abuse material, had been distributed online via Telegram.

The distribution charge carries a penalty of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.

Charges set forth in a criminal complaint are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Brentwood Police Department, the St. Charles County Police Department and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Wednesday sentenced a man who was caught with a methamphetamine in a carjacked vehicle to 10 years in prison.

Taylor Aellen Foster, 26, of Webster Groves, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in November to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Foster was found unconscious by St. Louis County police on August 7, 2022, in a parking lot at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. When he got out of the vehicle, officers spotted a handgun on the driver’s seat behind Foster and a catalytic converter in the trunk area that had been cut off a vehicle and stolen. As a convicted felon, Foster is barred from possessing firearms.

On March 12, 2023, officers at a convenience store on Page Avenue in Overland spotted Foster getting into a 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse that had been carjacked the day before. The officers tried to pull the vehicle over, but Foster sped off, traveling from Page Avenue onto Interstate 170. After reaching speeds as high as 120 m.p.h., Foster crashed into a Volkswagen, causing that vehicle to hit a Pontiac. Foster ran away but passed out while police were pursuing him. Officers found nine counterfeit $100 bills, marijuana and the Eclipse owner’s work identification in Foster’s bag. They found almost 80 grams of meth in the Eclipse.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the Maplewood Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis County, Missouri man caught with a gun and fentanyl after a police chase to a total of 10 years in prison. 

Antwan Boothe, 33, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in December to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted fleeing a traffic stop near the intersection of Jennings Station Road and West Florissant Avenue in St. Louis County on April 21, 2022, with his 9-year-old son in the car. While speeding away in a Chevrolet Camaro, Boothe hit multiple parked cars. After the Camaro became disabled, Boothe ran through the rear yards of homes adjoining the Jennings Senior High School campus, discarding a gun as he fled. 

After officers caught and arrested Boothe, they found a plastic bag with nearly 200 capsules containing fentanyl. They retraced his steps and found a stolen .40-caliber Glock pistol and its magazine. They also found over $7,000 in the car. As part of his plea, Boothe admitted that he intended to sell some or all of the fentanyl.

Judge Perry sentenced Boothe to nine years in prison for the 2022 incident, and one more year for violating his supervised release in a 2015 federal case in which he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. 

If Boothe is caught and charged again with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Wednesday sentenced a man who possessed more than 1,700 images containing child sexual abuse material to eight years in prison.     

Sheldon S. Dokes, now 31, uploaded files containing child pornography in March and April of 2022 from his mother’s home in Florissant, Missouri, using the screen name “Sin Frost.” Dokes told investigators that he first viewed child sexual abuse material in a group chat on the Kik app.

Dokes possessed over 1,700 unique images and two unique videos containing child pornography on his phone. Dokes had three images containing child pornography on his Instagram account and another three on his Facebook Messenger account as attachments to messages. Dokes received four images containing child sexual abuse material and distributed two images to others via Kik Messenger.

Dokes pleaded guilty in December to one count of possession of child pornography. 

Judge Pitlyk ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the four years Dokes is serving after he was convicted in two gun cases in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a man who was caught after a police chase with a fully automatic Glock handgun and cocaine base to 10 years in prison.

Anthony Wooten, 41, of St. Louis, Missouri, pleaded guilty on Jan. 2, 2024, to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and admitted being caught with the gun and drugs.

On May 30, 2023, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers initiated a traffic stop of a Hyundai Veloster near the intersection of Goodfellow Boulevard and Natural Bridge Avenue. Wooten initially stopped, but sped away when officers got out to approach him. He drove at high speeds through residential neighborhoods, and at one point drove up on a curb to avoid spike stripes, endangering both residents and officers. Next to the driver’s seat, Wooten had a .40-caliber Glock pistol that was equipped with a conversion device, commonly referred to as a Glock switch, that converted it into a fully automatic weapon. The Glock had an extended magazine loaded with 21 rounds of ammunition and Wooten had a second, drum-style magazine loaded with 41 rounds. He also had more than 20 grams of cocaine base.

The chase ended in the 5900 block of Hamilton Terrace. Wooten ran inside an apartment and refused to come out. He later fled to another unit inside the same building before surrendering.

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin pointed out Wooten’s extensive criminal history, including a 2001 conviction for first-degree assault and armed criminal action after he shot someone six times. He fled from police in 2010 and was caught with a firearm in 2012. In 2017, he escaped from a halfway house and was on supervised release in that case when he fled from police again.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Tuesday sentenced a man who supplied the fentanyl that killed a 19-year-old in Jefferson County, Missouri to 22 years in prison.
    
Judge Perry also ordered William Edward Martin, 23, to pay restitution to the victim’s family for her funeral expenses.

On June 23, 2022, Martin met the 19-year-old victim in the parking lot of a Walgreens in Arnold, Missouri. She got into the black BMW he was driving, and Martin gave her fentanyl. A short time later, he took the incapacitated teen and concealed her upside down in the backseat of her locked car. 

After the victim failed to come home, her father began searching for her. He found her dead in her car early the next morning. 

Martin would later admit that he could have called 911 or brought the victim to the hospital. In text messages, he discussed the strength of the fentanyl he was selling and the overdose danger it posed. He also continued to sell fentanyl after the victim’s death.

Arnold police spotted the BMW during the death investigation. The driver, Tanisha Payne, said she’d dropped Martin off at a gas station. Officers found a safe inside the car that contained fentanyl, hallucinogens, prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia. They caught Martin behind a supermarket with a loaded pistol. 

Martin pleaded guilty in November U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four felonies: conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl with a resulting death, distribution of fentanyl and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He also admitted selling fentanyl to others.

"This investigation was particularly tough as nothing could be more tragic than a parent finding their child dead," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Colin Dickey, head of Drug Enforcement Administration operations in Eastern Missouri. "Illicit fentanyl is the worst drug DEA has encountered. The damage it caused to this family cannot be repaired by sending this defendant to prison, but DEA hopes it sends a message to other fentanyl dealers that we will do everything we can to make sure they face the same penalties."

Steven “Lemon” Littler, 34, and Jacqueline Williamson, 34, admitted supplying fentanyl to Martin and Payne. Littler had been selling the drug to Martin for several months, Martin’s plea says. Littler also warned Martin of the potency of his fentanyl, calling it “deadly strong” and “dangerous.” 

When Williamson was arrested, investigators found fentanyl, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in her St. Louis home. Payne, now 23, also had fentanyl and drug paraphernalia when she was arrested.

Littler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl and is serving a 210-month prison sentence. Williamson, who pleaded guilty to a fentanyl distribution charge, was sentenced to 72 months. Payne, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, was sentenced to time served.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Arnold Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and the St. Louis County Police Department.

ST. LOUIS – A Warren County, Missouri man on Tuesday admitted possessing hundreds of images containing child sexual abuse material on phones and a laptop.

Jacob D. Beauchamp, 45, of Wright City, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. Beauchamp admitted possessing 146 images containing child sexual abuse material on his Apple iPhone, about 1,800 on his Samsung phone and numerous images on a screensaver that was running on his laptop. The investigation was sparked by a minor female who said Beauchamp sexually abused her and recorded that abuse. Beauchamp denied that in his plea agreement.

Beauchamp is scheduled to be sentenced July 17. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, and a fine of up to $250,000, or both prison and a fine.

The Wright City Police Department and the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a man who repeatedly robbed St. Louis area QuikTrip stores to 20 years in prison.

Terrence Gleason, now 53, of Bel Ridge, Missouri, stole cigarettes from or robbed three QuikTrip stores, including one in Bel Ridge that he victimized three times.

On Dec. 5, 2021, at about 2:30 a.m., Gleason entered the QuikTrip at 9099 Natural Bridge in Bel Ridge, walked behind the counter and began filling a bag with cartons of cigarettes. When the clerk tried to activate an alarm, Gleason lifted his shirt to show a holstered handgun. Gleason then left with the stolen cigarettes.

Gleason returned about 24 hours later. The same clerk was working. Gleason had one hand in the front pocket of his coat and the clerk believed Gleason was armed because of his actions the night before. Gleason demanded cigarettes and left with multiple cartons.

On Dec. 10, 2021, at about 3:00 a.m., Gleason and another man entered the QuikTrip at 5909 Howdershell Road in Hazelwood. The pair walked behind the checkout counter and began removing cartons of cigarettes. When an employee tried to trigger the alarm, Gleason’s accomplice pulled back his jacket, displayed a firearm and said, “Press something, I dare you.” Gleason and the man left with multiple cartons of cigarettes. 

On Dec. 11, 2021, at approximately 4:12 a.m., Gleason returned to the Bel Ridge QuikTrip, walked up to the counter, reached over it, and opened a drawer where cigarette cartons were stored. He grabbed several cartons, then approached the clerk who witnessed the two prior incidents and said, “I need Newports,” while grabbing at his waistband. The clerk, who believed Gleason had a gun and tried to comply, said they were out. Gleason walked behind the counter, grabbed several packages of other cigarettes and left.

On Dec. 12, 2021, at about 4:30 a.m., Gleason entered the QuikTrip located at 11150 St. Charles Rock Road in St. Ann and robbed the store at gunpoint, taking $85 from one cash register.

Gleason pleaded guilty in August in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three robbery charges, one charge of possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. 

The FBI, the Normandy Police Department, the St. Ann Police Department, and the Hazelwood Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Kirksville, Missouri on Thursday pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge after being caught by an undercover police officer posing as a 12-year-old girl. 

Corey Alexander Wadel, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. Wadel admitted that he possessed more than 600 images containing child sexual abuse material and exchanged that material with others online.  He also admitted taking pictures of himself exposing his genitals to two young children.

The investigation began after law enforcement in the United Kingdom notified Homeland Security Investigations that someone in the United States, later identified as Wadel, was talking to an undercover officer posing as a twelve-year-old female. Using Kik Messenger, Wadel sent explicit images and videos of himself to the officer.

As part of the plea agreement, both sides have agreed to recommend 12 years in prison when Wadel is sentenced in July. 

Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A resident of Hawaii pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis and admitted the sextortion of a 14-year-old Missouri girl, as well as the distribution of explicit images of other minors.

Gerardo Javier Montes, 33, pleaded guilty to one felony count of distribution of child pornography. 

Between Dec. 6, 2021, and Jan. 14, 2022, Montes communicated with the 14-year-old Missouri girl via numerous private messages on Reddit. She initially believed he was 21 but later found out that he was a decade older. Montes often turned the conversation to sexual matters. He provided advice on how to create nude images. He also sent her an explicit image of a 15-year-old. At one point she sent him an image of herself in a bra and a picture of herself topless. She later told Montes her full name and directed him to an online profile.

On Jan. 13, 2022, the victim tried to cut off contact with Montes. He responded by threatening to post nude photos of her on various social media sites and send them to “every school in the state.” He demanded more pictures, providing a detailed list of what he wanted, and tried to get her to engage in sexual activity with a dog. He also created a fake Reddit account, pretending to be a 15-year-old girl, to try and trick the victim into providing nude images. On Jan. 15, 2022, he sent images of the victim to someone else via Discord.

An investigation began after the FBI received a tip about the sextortion and traced the blackmailer to Hawaii. They performed a court-approved search of his home and seized electronic devices that contained child sexual abuse material. 

Montes admitted as part of his plea that he traded child pornography with others online, including images of his former girlfriends when they were minors and other child victims that he provided with money, gift cards, clothes, sexual toys or electronics in exchange for nude images. Those victims include one girl in Oklahoma, one in Texas and one in Colorado.

Montes made posts and comments in teen-focused Reddit groups, as well as groups discussion depression and rape fantasies. He also admitted seeking child sexual abuse material from other minors online. In February of 2021, he asked someone who said she had been sexually abused as a minor for nude images of herself when she was 13. In December 2021, Montes asked a 12-year-old girl if she wanted to see his genitals and asked to see her nude.

Montes is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15. The distribution charge carries a mandatory minimum prison term or five years, and a maximum of 20 years.

The FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is prosecuting the case.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has detailed information on resources for sextortion victims, including videos and discussion guides to help explain the problem to children and adults. They also have a step-by-step guide on how to report pictures or videos of children to social media companies and flag pictures so that the companies will seek out and remove the images.

To report sextortion, contact local law enforcement or the FBI by calling Call 1-800-CALL-FBI, contacting your local FBI office, or reporting it online at tips.fbi.gov or cybertipline.org.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a man who was caught on camera carjacking a truck in 2020 to 27 years in prison. 

James Blakemore, now 37, was convicted by a jury at a November trial of three felonies: carjacking, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Trial evidence and testimony showed that on Sept. 16, 2020, the victim was napping in his company’s 2016 Dodge Ram at the Convention Center MetroLink Station in downtown St. Louis when Blakemore opened his door and demanded the victim’s cash, phone and the truck at gunpoint.

Blakemore’s picture was captured by an in-car camera video recording and the truck’s location was trackable with a GPS device. When police arrived, a man jumped out of the stolen truck and ran away, but left a backpack behind with a pistol and both a debit card and EBT card in Blakemore’s name. Blakemore’s DNA was found in the truck and on the gun and the victim identified him in a photo lineup. 

A sentencing memo filed by the government says Blakemore has a violent criminal history and continued to be violent while in jail awaiting trial. He has destroyed jail property and attacked a corrections officer and another inmate.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Torrie Schneider and Donald Boyce are prosecuting the case.   
 

ST. LOUIS – The final of four defendants from St. Louis County, Missouri charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a cab driver in Hazelwood in 2022 pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Tywon Harris, 20, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of aiding and abetting in the commission of a murder.

Coron Dees, now 20, pleaded guilty in April 2023 to a robbery charge. Jeremiah Allen, 20, and Trishawn Jones, 19, pleaded guilty in August to the same robbery charge. Jones also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the commission of a murder.

In their plea agreements, all four admitted involvement in the robbery of Dewight Price, 54. Harris instigated the robbery. Dees and Jones robbed Price at gunpoint, while Allen taunted and threatened Price during the robbery. Jones fired the fatal shot when he perceived Price to be a threat to their escape. Jones was 17 and the others were 18 at the time of the murder.

On April 24, 2022, after leaving a party in downtown St. Louis, the four teens stopped at a gas station in the 700 block of North Tucker Boulevard. Harris and Jones were each armed with semiautomatic handguns, but Harris gave his gun to Dees to carry in his cross-body bag on the walk to the gas station.

At 5:23 a.m., Harris called for a taxi ride home. The four planned to take the taxi to a fake address near Allen’s home, then run away without paying the fare. After learning that they would have to prepay for the ride, the teens began discussing plans to rob Price.

They redirected Price to Hazelwood Central High School, where they thought there would be no witnesses.  Allen denied being part of the planning but admitted he knew that a robbery was going to take place. All four teens knew Jones and Dees were armed.

When they arrived, Dees and Jones pulled out their firearms and demanded cash from Price. Price begged the teens not to shoot him. A laughing Allen, who was in the front seat, told Price not to move and said, “You got two 40s to your head,” referencing a popular firearm caliber. Price held up his hands and handed cash to Jones.  Price then grabbed a firearm he kept in his door. Allen warned the three others that Price had a gun.  Price began to get out of the cab, but Harris opened his door, knocking Price to the ground.

Jones saw Price’s firearm and fired once, hitting Price in the torso. None of the teens stopped to help Price. As they ran away, Price fired his own gun multiple times, but did not strike any of them.  

Although Harris claims Price fired the first shot, neither the inside or outside of the taxi nor any of the defendants was struck by gunfire. Any shot fired by Price would likely have struck his attackers or the vehicle.  Investigators believe Price did not begin firing until after he was mortally wounded, the plea agreements say.

The teens then ran along a wooded path to Allen’s neighborhood, tossing their jackets into a creek and putting on face masks.  

Police arrived to find Price dead. That afternoon, the investigation led them to Allen’s house. Allen, Jones, and Harris hid Harris’s .22-caliber Glock 44 handgun and clothing they wore during the shooting above the drop ceiling in Allen’s basement. Police surrounded the house and members of Allen’s family voluntarily left. Police then entered the residence and called for Allen, Harris and Jones to surrender.  Allen and Jones left the basement and surrendered.  Harris attempted to hide. Police found Harris during a sweep of the basement and then found the gun and clothing. They later found Jones’ .40-caliber Ruger handgun, which he had hidden in a neighbor’s back yard wrapped in a pair of Dee’s jeans.   

Dees and Allen are scheduled to be sentenced in April, Jones is set to be sentenced in May and Harris’ sentencing is scheduled for July. The robbery charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,00 fine or both. The aiding and abetting murder charge carries a potential penalty of up to life in prison and the same fine.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Dunkel is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS– U.S. District Judge District Court Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced the final defendant in a methamphetamine distribution ring to 235 months in prison. 

Dedrick Deshon Jordan, who was sentenced Tuesday, is one of 15 defendants who pleaded guilty in the case. 

Jordan, 35, and his co-defendants Terry James Williams, 37, Clifford Dwight Davis Jr., 43, and Maria D. Flores-Cervantes, 36, were connected to the source of supply in the Los Angeles area, plea agreements say. Jordan and Joseph Robert Holliman, 49, were primarily responsible for arranging the supply of meth, which was sent through the mail or brought to the St. Louis area by couriers. Brendon Darnell Thomas, 47, at times supplied the drug to street-level dealers, plea agreements say. Thomas, Holliman and Jordan each had a residence that they used to receive and store drugs and cash proceeds from drug sales. 

The investigation was primarily conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Jefferson County Municipal Enforcement Group. More than 15 kilograms of meth were seized during an investigation that began in January 2019. A total of about 1.3 kilograms of nearly pure meth and 8.9 kilograms of marijuana was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on two occasions in 2020. On April 18, 2020, Davis and Flores-Cervantes were stopped in Phelps County, Missouri in an SUV equipped with a hidden compartment containing a loaded handgun, nearly 12 kilograms of meth and 47.8 grams of heroin.

On June 18, 2020, investigators conducted court-approved searches of the homes of Thomas, Jordan and Holliman. They found $129,776 in cash, 190 grams of meth and a digital scale at Jordan’s residence. At Holliman's residence, they found vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, electronic scales, ammunition, three firearms and 4.3 grams of meth. At Thomas' residence, they found three firearms, clear plastic bags containing marijuana, a money counter and $17,520 cash.

Thomas was sentenced to 210 months in prison. Holliman received 84 months. Williams was sentenced to 120 months and Davis received 45 months. 

The DEA, HSI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, the St. Charles City and County Police, the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, the Arnold Police Department and the Normandy Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming announced Tuesday that a man from Charleston, Missouri was sentenced to eight years in prison for the offense of distribution of fentanyl.

Kyrron Haynes, 29, appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

At his guilty plea hearing last year, Haynes admitted that he sold a quantity of fentanyl to an individual in Charleston on two separate occasions in March 2023. Unbeknownst to Haynes, the buyer was working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). At the time of the offenses, Haynes was on parole supervision through the State of Missouri for a prior drug-trafficking conviction. After serving the 8-year sentence, Haynes will be placed on supervised release for three years.

The DEA, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a man caught with methamphetamine and other drugs just weeks after his release from prison to 12 ½ more years in prison.

On May 19, 2023, officers with the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Kennett Police Department conducted a court-approved search of a home in Kennett after hearing that a drug supplier had a pound of meth there. Roderick Omar Wheeler Jr. was staying at the home with his uncle after being released from the federal Bureau of Prisons on April 28, according to Wheeler’s plea agreement and a government sentencing memorandum. During the search, 90 grams of crystal methamphetamine; 280 grams of synthetic marijuana (K2), 33 tablets of ecstasy, 8 grams of fentanyl and three digital scales were found. Wheeler also had $1,520 in cash that had been used earlier by the task force to buy meth.

Wheeler, 27, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one felony count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Wheeler was sentenced to 78 months in prison in 2016 on gun and drug charges after being caught after a police chase with a pistol and marijuana, the sentencing memo says. He was released in 2021 but later sentenced to 14 more months in prison after violating the conditions of his supervised release. In 2014, Wheeler was found by police in a vehicle with a brick of marijuana underneath the seat. Wheeler had one ounce of meth concealed in his underwear that was discovered while he was being booked into jail.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Kennett Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a man who was selling methamphetamine from his Dunklin County home to eight years in prison.

Anthony D. Emery, 48, of Kennett, pleaded guilty in December to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He admitted possessing methamphetamine that he intended to sell to others and a loaded firearm to protect the meth. Officers with the Kennett Police Department conducted a court-approved search of Emery’s home on May 3, 2022, after establishing probable cause that he was selling meth there. Officers found five bags of meth with a combined weight of nearly one kilogram, $4,398 in cash, digital scales for weighing drugs for sale and a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 Special Revolver.

The Kennett Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri to 40 years in prison for killing a woman during one carjacking and shooting another woman during a carjacking a few weeks later. 

Loyse Dozier, 21, fatally shot Laruth Jones on July 10, 2022, while stealing her Mercedes CLA 250. Jones had just parked at the Raqqa Mart at 352 Chambers Road, in Riverview, in St. Louis County. She was standing near the store’s entrance when she saw Dozier, who was wearing a full-face mask, get into her car. She confronted Dozier with her own pistol. During the resulting exchange of gunfire, Dozier fatally shot Jones. Before leaving in the stolen Mercedes, Dozier got out and stole Jones’ gun. He later set her car on fire in an alley in St. Louis.

On Aug. 1, 2022, Dozier shot another woman while trying to steal her car from a Walgreens at 1400 North Grand Boulevard in St. Louis. A masked Dozier walked onto the parking lot, opened the door of the victim’s Kia Optima and ordered her out. The victim got out and handed her keys to Dozier, who shot her twice with Jones’ stolen gun before getting in the Kia. An off-duty Florissant Police Department officer, who was working as a security guard inside the Walgreens, ran outside after the shooting and scared Dozier away. Dozier left his phone behind in the Kia.

Nine days later, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted Dozier at a gas station at West Florissant and Adelaide Avenues. He ran, discarding the gun he’d stolen from Jones and a bag containing 5.76 grams of fentanyl. Dozier had cocaine base in 25 plastic baggies in his pocket when he was arrested. He is also a convicted felon and is barred from possessing a firearm.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, the surviving carjacking victim spoke of the impact of Dozier’s crimes, as did Jones’ sister. 

Dozier pleaded guilty in December to four felonies: carjacking resulting in death, attempted carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on March 19, 2024, found Phillip J. Cutler of Muskogee, Oklahoma guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and the murder-for-hire of St. Louis Public School teacher Jocelyn Peters, and her unborn child, Micah Leigh, in 2016. 

Prosecutors proved to jurors that Cutler was enlisted by his longtime friend, Cornelius M. Green, to commit the murders.

Green, 42, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty on Feb. 28, 2024 to the same charges. He admitted as part of his plea hiring his longtime friend, Cutler, to kill Peters. Peters was 31 weeks pregnant with Green’s child. Green was also involved in sexual relationships with several other women.

Green admitted during his plea that he used cash stolen from Carr Lane Middle School, where he was principal, to pay Cutler. On Feb. 28, 2016, Green texted Cutler and asked him to come to St. Louis during the week of March 20, 2016. Cutler asked if Green would be sending “the package,” and on March 7, Green sent Cutler a UPS package containing $2,500 cash. 

On March 21, Cutler arrived in St. Louis via Greyhound bus, staying with Green’s sister. Green took a train trip to Chicago to establish his alibi for the murder, giving Cutler the keys to his Kia Optima and Peters’ apartment.

On March 24, Cutler drove Green’s car to Peters’ apartment in the 4200 block of West Pine in St. Louis, let himself in using Green’s keys, and shot Peters in the eye using a potato as a silencer. During his testimony, Cutler admitted seeing the 1992 film South Central, during which a character similarly used a potato as a silencer. Peters was working on baby shower invitations at the time she was killed.

At 6:14 a.m. the morning following the murder, Cutler confirmed to Green that Jocelyn and the baby had been killed. Following their conversation, Green bought his return train ticket, and Cutler then went to North Riverfront Park to dispose of evidence. 

Upon arriving back in St. Louis, Green retrieved his car from Cutler and went directly to Peters’ apartment and called 911 to report her death. He repeatedly made false statements to law enforcement and others attempting to evade responsibility for his ordering of the murders and pretending he had no knowledge of the circumstances leading to the deaths. Cutler was detained for questioning that same night after attempting to retrieve the Kia Optima from the crime scene. When told he was being detained, Cutler ate two pieces of paper from a notebook in his pocket.

Green is scheduled to be sentenced June 5 and faces a sentence of life in prison. As part of the plea, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has agreed to dismiss their case against Green for the murders if he is sentenced to life in federal prison. 

Cutler is scheduled to be sentenced June 18. He faces life in prison on each charge.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) and the FBI investigated the case, which is being prosecuted in cooperation with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiffany Becker and Zachary Bluestone are prosecuting the case.  Former SLMPD Detective Mark Biondolino was the case agent. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Thursday sentenced a man who was caught with fentanyl, methamphetamine and two fully automatic handguns to 65 months in prison. 

Courtlend Green was spotted by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detectives with the Mobile Reserve Unit on Jan. 3, 2023, driving into the parking lot of a supermarket in the 8300 block of North Broadway where he was known to sell drugs. Because of his history of fleeing from police, officers deployed tire deflation devices in front of Green’s Honda Crosstour before activating their lights and trying to approach Green’s car. Green sped away before crashing into another vehicle at the intersection of North Broadway and Gimblin Road. Green got out and ran before officers caught and arrested him. 

Green’s Honda contained two Glock handguns that were equipped with illegal “switches,” or auto sears, that converted them into fully automatic weapons. One was stolen and had a drum magazine. The other had an extended magazine. Green, who is a convicted felon and therefore barred from the possession of firearms, admitted both possessing the firearms and buying the Glock switches for them. Officers also found about 64 grams of meth and at least 18 grams of fentanyl. 

Green, 27, pleaded guilty in December to being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

In June of 2022, Green pleaded guilty in St. Louis Circuit Court to involuntary manslaughter related to a shootout a short distance from the supermarket, according to a detention motion filed in the federal case.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri on Thursday admitted using his brother’s identity to fraudulently obtain about $31,700 from the Missouri Medicaid Program.

Christopher J. Spencer, 46, waived indictment by a grand jury and pleaded guilty to five counts of making false statements relating to health care benefits. Spencer admitted making false statements from June 2018 to February 2022 in connection with claims for Medicaid-reimbursed personal care assistance services.

Spencer previously received those services, which can include housekeeping, meals, bathing, grooming and transportation, from his brother, who lived with Spencer.  At that time, his brother was reimbursed for the services by the Missouri Medicaid Program and its vendors via a debit card.  After his brother moved out in 2018, Spencer continued to submit, on a near daily basis, time sheets and Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) records falsely claiming that his brother was providing care for him.  Spencer also submitted enrollment paperwork to the Medicaid vendor listing his brother as his personal care attendant and containing his brother’s forged signature.  In reality, Spencer’s brother never provided services to Spencer after June 2018.  Spencer retained the debit card used by the Missouri Medicaid Program and its vendors to reimburse his brother and spent the fraudulently-obtained payments deposited onto the card. 

Between June 2018 and February 2022, Spencer fraudulently received about $31,700 on the debit card that he used for personal expenses such as bills, rent, groceries, shopping and hotels. He also used his brother’s name and personal information to obtain loans or advances on reimbursement payments from the Medicaid vendor. 

“Through his scheme to defraud the Medicaid program, the defendant stole taxpayer funds meant to pay for legitimate services for eligible beneficiaries,” said Linda Hanley, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  “HHS-OIG will hold accountable those who exploit federal health care system for personal gain.”

Spencer is scheduled to be sentenced August 4. Each false statement charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Spencer will also be ordered to repay the money.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County, Missouri pediatrician was indicted Wednesday and accused of prescribing pain pills and other controlled substances in exchange for sex acts or cash.

The indictment charges Craig A. Spiegel, 67, with 17 counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances and six counts of making false statements related to health care matters. Dr. Spiegel and an acquaintance, April Bingham, 46, were also indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

The indictment says that since at least 2014, Dr. Spiegel repeatedly issued controlled substance prescriptions to numerous adult women – many of whom he met because he was their pediatrician when they were children – in exchange for sexual acts and sexual photographs, without regard for the patient’s medical condition or the medical necessity of the prescription. In many cases, Spiegel issued those controlled substance prescriptions even though he knew the recipients had a substance use disorder and he knew that issuing the prescription was illegal and could endanger the recipient’s mental health and physical safety, the indictment says. He also pressured reluctant women to engage in sex acts at his pediatrics office in Bridgeton, Missouri, the indictment says.  

In a motion seeking to have Dr. Spiegel held in jail until trial, the government alleges that investigators are aware of at least 25 individuals with whom Spiegel exchanged controlled substance prescriptions for sexual acts or cash.

The indictment alleges that Dr. Spiegel ignored widely known “red flags” that can indicate prescription drugs are being abused or sold, endangering the well-being of the patients and the community. The indictment also lists a series of examples. One patient met Dr. Spiegel through a friend who told her that he would write any prescription she desired if she performed a sex act while topless. On numerous occasions she did so or provided nude photos in exchange for Adderall, Xanax and Percocet, the indictment alleges. Dr. Spiegel provided the same three drugs to another patient in exchange for sex acts, despite knowing that she had a severe substance use disorder and was at high risk of overdose, the indictment alleges. She died of a drug overdose in April of 2022 at the age of 40, it says.

The indictment also alleges that beginning in 2021, Bingham, who did not have any medical training or a Drug Enforcement Administration registration allowing her to prescribe controlled substances, agreed to distribute controlled substances under Dr. Spiegel’s DEA registration. Dr. Spiegel issued controlled substance prescriptions to Bingham for sexual favors Bingham provided, the indictment says. Dr. Spiegel knew that Bingham was selling some of the drugs he prescribed to her for cash, the indictment says. Dr. Spiegel used the identities of third-party individuals, including Bingham’s ex-husband, mother, and friends, to either take advantage of their prescription insurance benefits or conceal from pharmacies the frequency with which Bingham was receiving controlled substances prescribed by Dr. Spiegel, the indictment says. Bingham also introduced Dr. Spiegel to others who provided him with cash or sex acts in exchange for prescriptions, the indictment says.

“The conduct alleged in the indictment represents an exploitation of patients who were vulnerable because they had been treated by Dr. Spiegel since they were girls, because they were struggling with an addiction, or both, to satisfy a sexual desire,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “It is illegal and unethical for a doctor to prescribe controlled substances as payment for sexual favors or for cash, or to provide drugs to someone who is suspected of diverting or abusing those drugs.”

“Physicians who recklessly and illegitimately distribute controlled substances undermine critical efforts to battle the opioid crisis and betray their professional responsibility to serve the health and well-being of the public. As alleged, Dr. Spiegel took advantage of individuals struggling with addiction--some of them his former pediatric patients--all for his own personal gratification,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to address such abuse to protect patients, communities, and taxpayers from such dangerous conduct.”

“Every day, prescription drugs are misused in the United States at an alarming rate because many people have a false sense of security regarding these potent, and sometimes dangerous, drugs,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis, leader of Drug Enforcement Administration operations in Missouri, Kansas and southern Illinois. “Reducing prescription drug misuse is vital to the health and welfare of the American people and is a priority we take seriously. When the medical practitioners Americans trust contribute to that misuse, DEA is obliged to investigate.”

"The allegations laid forth in the federal indictment describe a heinous abuse of trust,” said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Christopher Crocker. “The investigation was made possible through strong federal, state, and local partnerships."

Individuals with concerns about Dr. Spiegel should call HHS-OIG at 800-447-8477.

The charges of conspiracy and illegal distribution of controlled substances are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. Each charge of making false statements is punishable by five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. 

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Bridgeton Police Department, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS– U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a felon caught with a gun to 55 months in prison.

Police searched the St. Louis County, Missouri apartment of Martez D. Lindsey on April 25, 2023, while investigating a fatal hit-and-run. Detectives found a stolen Taurus G3 pistol, .53 grams of cocaine base, .33 grams of methamphetamine, 1.14 grams of marijuana, a digital scale and $1,370 in cash in Lindsey’s bedroom. Lindsey, 31, admitted as part of his plea agreement in December that he knew he’d been convicted of multiple felonies and could not possess a firearm. 

After his arrest on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Lindsey contacted an ex-girlfriend who was a key witness in the hit-and-run investigation and pressured her to claim she was tricked or made up a story because she was mad at him. Lindsey believed her statement was the “only proof they got,” his plea agreement says. Lindsey previously had thrown a brick through the rear window of a vehicle she owned and tossed in a firework that destroyed the front window.

Judge Schelp ordered the federal prison sentence to run concurrent to any prison time Lindsey receives for a pending case in St. Louis Circuit Court, where he faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Bluestone prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Pennsylvania has been indicted in St. Louis and accused of defrauding investors in a sports betting fund for more than five years.

Elijah A. Goshert, 47, was indicted on Nov. 15, 2023, on three counts of wire fraud. Goshert was arrested in Pennsylvania on Feb. 28, 2024, and pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday.

The indictment says Goshert, who had a day job at a telecommunications company, told investors that he ran an investment fund called the Magellan Sports Fund. Goshert said the fund placed sports bets using a "sophisticated computer algorithm" that substantially reduced risks, the indictment says. Goshert told investors he would not make any money unless the bets turned a profit, but the indictment says Goshert actually used investors’ money for his personal expenses, including Disney vacations, private school tuition and mortgage payments.

Goshert sent fraudulent “updates” and account statements to investors and lied to investors when they tried to withdraw cash, the indictment says. At least 10 investors lost more than $500,000, the indictment says.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Each wire fraud charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and a fine.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a St. Louis County man who assaulted his then-girlfriend in 2022 to seven years and five months in prison.

Joshua Lee, 37, pleaded guilty in October to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted being caught with a handgun on Aug. 6, 2022, by Saint Louis County Police Department officers who were responding to a report of a domestic incident involving an assault and shooting. The victim had been shot in the back. When Lee was arrested, he told officers that the victim shot herself. 

Judge Fleissig on Monday found that evidence and testimony showed that Lee committed an aggravated assault by striking and choking his then-girlfriend before she was shot during a struggle over the gun Lee had in his waistband. Lee is a convicted felon and is barred from possessing a firearm. Judge Fleissig sentenced Lee to seven years in prison for that crime.

Lee was also on supervised release at the time of the assault after pleading guilty in 2016 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Judge Fleissig on Monday sentenced Lee to five more months in prison for violating his supervised release. 

The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Two men were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday and accused of kidnapping a toddler in St. Louis County, Missouri last year.

Kendal “KD” White, 19, of St. Charles, and Cam’Ron Henderson, 19, of St. Louis, were each indicted on one felony count of kidnapping. The indictment accuses them of kidnapping the child on Aug. 10, 2023. 

White and Henderson are in custody. A motion seeking to have them held in jail until trial says the incident occurred in north St. Louis County. White and Henderson were searching for someone they believed had stolen firearms from White, and the pair kicked in the door of the child’s mother’s home, the motion says. The target of their search was the child’s father, but he was not there. Rather than leave, White tried to take the child, and pistol-whipped the mother when she resisted, the motion says. They dropped off the child with strangers in St. Louis after seeing an Amber Alert about the incident, the motion says.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The kidnapping charge carries a potential penalty of at least 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and a fine.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.
 

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday sentenced a Cape Girardeau, Missouri man to 175 months in prison for selling fentanyl.

Jimmy L. Hudson Jr., 47, pleaded guilty last year to distribution of fentanyl. He admitted selling fentanyl in April of 2023 to an informant working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

This latest case represents Hudson’s third federal drug-trafficking conviction, according to court documents. At the time he sold the fentanyl, Hudson was on federal supervised release stemming from a 2015 conviction for distributing methamphetamine.  After serving the nearly 15-year sentence, Hudson will once again be placed on supervised release.

The DEA investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester handled the prosecution for the government.    

ST. LOUIS – A man from Arkansas pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday and admitted exchanging nude pictures with a minor for five years, starting when she was 12. 

Joseph D. Najera, 25, of Lincoln, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to one felony count of coercion and enticement of a minor. 

Najera and the victim met in 2017 via Kik Messenger when Najera sent her a friend request. At that time, the victim told Najera her age. During their online communications, Najera sent the victim artwork depicting nudity, pornography and graphic violence. He then had her draw artwork as well. His instructions about what to draw became increasingly complex and sexual. On numerous occasions, Najera told the victim to perform sex acts during video chats, and to create pornographic images and pictures, his plea agreement says. He sent her pornographic videos via TextNow and Facebook Messenger. Najera also had parental controls set up on the victim’s phone to monitor her online actions and told her she was not allowed to talk with boys at school. He had to approve her makeup, her clothes and whether she cut her hair. They discussed meeting in person but never did.

Najera is scheduled to be sentenced June 27. Both sides are recommending 10 years in prison. 

The FBI, the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force, the St. Charles County Police Department and the Montgomery City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Thursday and admitted fraudulently obtaining $135,622 in loans through a pandemic relief program.

Edna E. McGowan-Baker, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud and admitted engaging in a scheme between May 2020 and September 2021 to fraudulently obtain Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. The loans were intended to aid small businesses in paying and retaining employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

McGowan-Baker applied for PPP loans for five different companies in her name. At the time, only two of the companies were actually in operation. On the loan applications, McGowan-Baker misrepresented the companies’ payroll, number of employees and annual income in order to inflate the amount of PPP loan money she could receive. She also submitted fraudulent tax forms to support these misrepresentations. Finally, she certified that she would use the loans for payroll and other authorized expenses but actually used the money for her own bills, personal purchases and in payments to others. 

McGowan-Baker is scheduled to be sentenced June 5. The wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The bank fraud charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

ST. LOUIS – An Illinois man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Thursday and admitted robbing a St. Louis, Missouri 7-Eleven last year.

Payton Robert Yates, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of possession of and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Yates admitted robbing the 7-Eleven at 5350 Chippewa Street in St. Louis on June 30, 2023. Yates approached the cash register, placed a bag of Hot Fries on the counter and then pulled out a handgun before telling the cashier, “Empty the register.” Yates left with $134.77 and the Hot Fries.

Yates then got into a blue Toyota Tundra parked nearby. Yates’ father had reported the Tundra stolen a few days earlier. A handgun was inside. Yates pawned the gun two days later.

Yates, of Carterville, in Williamson County, Illinois, is scheduled to be sentenced June 4. Both sides are recommending nine years in prison. 

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Torrie Schneider is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Two men have admitted stealing mail from mailboxes in Chesterfield, Missouri. 

Christopher Ali Pate, 31, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of mail theft. Eryk Campbell, 28, pleaded guilty to the same count on February 20. Both men admitted stealing mail from multiple mailboxes in Chesterfield on Aug. 28, 2023, at the direction of Pate. Pate and Campbell then drove to a gas station in St. Louis. When a police vehicle drove onto the gas station lot, Pate and Campbell fled and refused to stop for police. As they drove, they threw stolen mail out of the vehicle.

Pate is scheduled to be sentenced June 27. Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced May 21. The mail theft charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cort VanOstran is prosecuting the case.
 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a sex offender from St. Louis, Missouri who sought explicit images from teens online to 17 ½ years in prison.

In January of 2023, detectives from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in California were conducting an undercover investigation into online child exploitation when they received a message from James W. Rankin. Using the screen name “Lonely_Nerd,” Rankin began communicating with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl. On the social media application Whisper, Rankin sent her a picture of his genitals, discussed going to California to pick her up and asked for sexually explicit pictures of her. 

Rankin also possessed child pornography on his cell phone and admitted that he’d sought sexually explicit pictures via Whisper from others who identified themselves as minors.

Rankin, 47, pleaded guilty in November to one count of solicitation of child pornography and one count of transfer of obscene material.

Rankin was on parole and residing in a residential re-entry center at the time of his crimes. He had served prison time on a charge of first-degree statutory rape of a minor under 14 in Greene County Circuit Court. Rankin was also convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and domestic assault in a 2017 Christian County, Missouri case after he engaged in sexual contact with a child under 17, court records show.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday sentenced a man who recorded his sexual abuse of a toddler to 30 years in prison.

Judge White also ordered Kyle J. Gipson, 23, of Jefferson County, to pay a $5,000 assessment that will go into a fund for victims and prevention programs.

Gipson was the monitor and gatekeeper for a social media group focused on child sexual abuse material, bestiality and rape, according to his guilty plea. He possessed child sexual abuse material involving the 2-year-old victim and others. He also discussed his sexual abuse of the victim with others on social media. 

In March of 2023, an undercover FBI agent in an online group dedicated to discussing and trading original images of child sexual abuse learned of Gipson. The agent and Gipson began communicating on the social media platform Wickr and later moved to Telegram. Gipson sent the agent a picture of the victim and said he had sexually abused her, his plea agreement says. He also sent a nude picture of her and offered to provide access so the girl could be sexually abused, his plea says.

Gipson was arrested after a court-approved search of his home on March 13. 

Gipson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in November to one felony count of production of child pornography.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department Special Investigations Unit investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles County, Missouri who illegally sold hundreds of guns was sentenced Monday to five years of probation and 200 hours of community service. 

Harry Trueblood, 69, is also now a convicted felon and is barred from possessing, let alone selling, firearms.

Trueblood pleaded guilty in November to one count of being an unlicensed firearms dealer. He admitted selling firearms at not less than 15 gun shows from January of 2021 through May of 2023 despite never having been licensed to deal in firearms. He continued selling even after agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) warned him that he was committing a crime. Trueblood purposely avoided obtaining a Federal Firearms License (FFL), Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski said in court Monday.

“ATF is a leader in the nation’s fight to disrupt violent crime for safer communities,” said Bernard Hansen, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Kansas City Field Division.  “Trueblood was linked to selling over 250 firearms without a Federal Firearms License and over 40 crime guns were traced back him.  It is firearm traffickers like this defendant that fuel violence in our communities by putting deadly weapons in the hands of people who commit violent crimes in our communities. Our Crime Gun Intelligence Center was at the center of this investigation, utilizing intelligence to identify this defendant and disrupting the supply of illegally transferred firearms and making our neighborhoods safer.”

Guns sold illegally by Trueblood were recovered at the scene of a homicide, a suicide and other shootings and from felons and a juvenile, Szczucinski said. One person with mental health issues severe enough that he was turned away from two gun stores found Trueblood and bought a firearm from him, Szczucinski said in court.

The ATF began investigating Trueblood after multiple guns recovered in unrelated crimes were traced back to him as the original purchaser. Trueblood sold AR-15-type pistols and handguns to undercover ATF agents before the ATF on Feb. 1, 2023 sent him a cease and desist letter ordering him to stop dealing in firearms without a license.  Trueblood continued to sell guns, his plea agreement says.

The ATF investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced a Lake St. Louis, Missouri man to 25 years in prison for recording his sexual abuse of a young girl.

Steve G. Flores, now 52, produced hundreds of pictures and videos of the victim, and stored them on electronic devices and online. Authorities were initially alerted by a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from a cloud storage company.

Flores pleaded guilty in December to one count of production of child pornography. 

The FBI, the St. Charles County Police Department and St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles, Missouri on Friday admitted recording his sexual abuse of two young girls for years. 

Ronald C. Lawrence, 25, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.

Lawrence admitted sexually abusing two girls for years, starting when one was just 7 years old. He recorded that abuse and shared those images with others online. He also admitted downloading and possessing child sexual abuse material. A third girl told authorities that he touched her inappropriately in 2022. She said her abuse stopped when she punched Lawrence in the face.

The investigation began after multiple electronic service providers made cyber tip reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) stemming from the child pornography activity conducted by Lawrence, including Dropbox, Instagram and Google.

Lawrence is scheduled to be sentenced June 21. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson will ask for a sentence of 35 years in prison, the plea agreement says.

The FBI, the St. Charles County Police Department and the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Four Franklin County, Missouri men have been indicted on charges accusing them of stealing mail and using stolen checks to commit bank fraud.

Matthew Cahill, 39, of Franklin County, Donald Anderson, 35, Harvey Hale, 47, and Joshua Hopkins, 34, Franklin County, were each indicted February 21 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, multiple counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Cahill was also indicted on one count of possession of stolen mail. He and Hopkins also face multiple counts of aggravated identity theft.

Hopkins was arrested Wednesday, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. Cahill was arrested Feb. 23 and pleaded not guilty. Hale and Anderson are already in custody but have yet to appear in court.

The indictment alleges that beginning in at least February of 2020, the men obtained checks, bank account information and personal identifying information by stealing incoming or outgoing mail from mailboxes or from homes and vehicles. They would then use that information to alter the stolen checks or create counterfeit checks and use those checks to pay for merchandise at local retailers, the indictment says. They also cashed the checks and on at least one occasion opened a bank account, the indictment says.

Each conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. The aggravated identity theft charges carry a penalty of two years in prison, consecutive to any other charge, a fine of up $250,000, or both. The stolen mail charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, and the police departments in the cities of Washington, Union, Eureka, St. Clair and St. Charles investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Friday sentenced a man convicted of charges related to fentanyl dealing and a fatal shooting in University City to life in prison plus 15 years. 

A jury in September found Deoman Reeves, 32, of East St. Louis, guilty of 11 felony charges: one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute in excess of 40 grams of fentanyl, four counts of possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, three counts of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, resulting in death.

The death resulting charge stems from the Oct. 21, 2019, fatal shooting of David Anderson in the 1100 block of Kingsland Avenue. Evidence and testimony presented at trial showed that Reeves and others fired multiple shots at Anderson in retaliation for a shooting in St. Louis County the day before. Anderson was not involved in the St. Louis County shooting.

“This is a dangerous individual who has a callous disregard for human life,” said Special Agent in Charge Bernard G. Hansen of the Kansas City Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “There is no higher priority for ATF than keeping our communities safe and we will use all available resources to identify and investigate those who commit violent acts. This sentence should send a message to others that violent behavior in our communities will not be tolerated.”

Judge Schelp sentenced Reeves’ co-defendant, Franklin Bell, now 32, on February 12 to 20 years in prison. Bell pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial in September to a fentanyl distribution conspiracy charge, five counts of possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl and two counts of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Bell admitted in his plea that he, Reeves and Arrion Jones were involved in selling fentanyl in the St. Louis area. After a September 2019 non-fatal shooting, the University City Police Department requested the assistance of the ATF. An ATF confidential informant and undercover agents began buying fentanyl from Reeves and others, who were armed while selling the fentanyl. Reeves also sold firearms to a confidential informant. 

Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced Deronte McDaniels, now 26, in October to 150 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and admitted being the target of a shooting on Oct. 20, 2019, that wounded Jones. McDaniels took Jones’ firearm and returned fire and was one of the men who shot at Anderson the next day, his plea says.  

Jones is serving a 40-month sentence.

The ATF and the University City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul D’Agrosa and Erin Granger are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Two men are facing federal drug charges after a fatal shooting in St. Louis in January.

Derrick Darnell Clark, 19, and Jeremiah Martez Sutton, 22, were each indicted Wednesday on one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and one count of aiding and abetting the discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The indictment alleges that the shooting occurred on Jan. 28, 2024, during the drug conspiracy.

Both men were originally charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis February 9. Charging documents accuse the men of fatally shooting one person and seriously wounding another during a robbery in an apartment in the 900 block of Goodfellow Boulevard in St. Louis.

Clark was arrested February 22. Sutton is still being sought by authorities. 

The drug conspiracy charge carries a possible penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both. The aiding and abetting the discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries a penalty of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. 

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. 

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A Poplar Bluff, Missouri man on Wednesday was sentenced to serve 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking and firearm related charges.

Samuel D. Moore, 27, appeared for his sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers were dispatched to Moore’s residence in Poplar Bluff last July in response to a reported domestic assault. Officers obtained a search warrant for the premises after observing multiple firearms and drug paraphernalia items inside the residence. Large quantities of various controlled substances were subsequently discovered inside Moore’s Chevy Tahoe, including a box containing 30 pounds of marijuana divided into one-pound bags. Inside that same box, officers found a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an attached 50-round high-capacity drum magazine. At his guilty plea hearing last November, Moore admitted that he intended to sell the marijuana for profit and that he possessed the firearm in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities.

After serving the 10-year sentence, Moore will be placed on supervised release for three years.

Felony state charges for domestic assault remain pending in the Circuit Court of Butler County, Missouri. As in all criminal cases, Moore is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Butler County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A man from Poplar Bluff, Missouri on Tuesday admitted setting fires that burned 220 acres of U.S. Forest Service and private land in 2022 and agreed to repay $66,000.

Adam D. Gambling, 44, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one felony count of setting fires on public land. He admitted setting a series of fires on Nov. 8, 2022, near Beaver Lake in the Mark Twain National Forest in Butler County. Those fires burned a total of 220.68 acres, of which 95.3 acres were privately owned.

After an investigation, the U.S. Forest Service developed Gambling as a suspect. During a voluntary interview at his home, Gambling admitted that he had started the fires.

He is scheduled to be sentenced May 24. The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Gambling also agreed to pay $66,094 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the cost of fighting the fires.

The U.S. Forest Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former youth hockey coach on Wednesday admitted sexually abusing two minors and recording that abuse.

James R. Lambert , 42, of Lake St. Louis, admitted sexually abusing one victim over 50 times between 2007 and 2018, when the victim was between the ages of 6 and 17 years old. The sexual abuse occurred in St. Charles County, Missouri and in other states and foreign countries where the victim was taken by Lambert. Lambert also recorded his sexual abuse of the victim on numerous occasions.

Lambert also admitted sexually abusing a second victim in St. Charles and St. Louis counties when that victim was between 6 and 9 years old. 

When the first victim came forward and reported Lambert’s sexual abuse, he also reported his suspicions that Lambert was abusing the second victim. Investigators later found hundreds of files on Lambert’s electronic devices documenting his abuse of the second victim. They also found at least 1,185 files containing child sexual abuse material that Lambert obtained online.

Lambert pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of production of child pornography, one count of transporting a minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity, one count of receiving child pornography and one count of aggravated sexual abuse.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson will ask for 50 years in prison, the plea agreement says.  

Anyone with information regarding possible additional victims is asked to contact the Lake St. Louis Police Department by calling 636-625-8018 or emailing policetips@lakesaintlouis.com.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Lake St. Louis Police Department, the St. Charles County Cybercrime Task Force and the Maryland Heights Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.