Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A man pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday and admitted aiding in the armed robbery of a St. Louis County Boost Mobile store in 2021. 

Damonta Bridges, who is a convicted felon, also admitted possessing a firearm in a carjacked vehicle.

Bridges, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a robbery charge and a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. As part his plea, Bridges admitted being present at a Boost Mobile store at 12135 Bellefontaine Road on Aug. 9, 2021 when Kadijah McFadden pointed a firearm at a store employee and said, “give me everything out the drawer right now.” McFadden stole about $630 from the register. She and Bridges both stole mobile phones.

Bridges also admitted that on Sept. 5, 2021, he was a passenger in a 2017 Jeep Cherokee that McFadden had carjacked at gunpoint earlier that day. McFadden was driving. After police spotted the stolen vehicle, Bridges threw a Stoeger 9m pistol out of the window. Both McFadden and Bridges were caught by police after McFadden crashed the Jeep.

As part of the plea, both prosecutors and Bridges’ lawyer will recommend a sentence of 137 months in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for November 28.

McFadden, then 29, pleaded guilty in December to carjacking, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, robbery, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 20. 

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Walker is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – A man from Franklin County, Missouri has been accused of filming a sex act with a child in June.

Brandon Daniel Espinoza, 19, made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child. He was indicted August 23.

The indictment accuses Espinoza of filming a sex act with a 5-year-old boy in June.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. 

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 case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Warren County Sheriff's Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman 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 Ferguson, Missouri who was caught in 2021 with fentanyl, methamphetamine and two guns after a police chase was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison.

Derenta Street, 33, pleaded guilty in May to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted fleeing from police and throwing out drugs and a gun while doing so.

On Sept. 29, 2021, St. Louis County Police Department officers spotted Street near the intersection of Trask and Crowley Drives in north St. Louis County in a Chevrolet Corvette bearing license plates that belonged to another vehicle. Officers tried to pull Street over, but he sped off. After they used spike strips to deflate his tires, Street threw out a Remington 1911-RlS, .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, baggies containing fentanyl and methamphetamine and capsules containing fentanyl. Once Street stopped and officers arrested him, they found more fentanyl and a Glock 17 9mm pistol equipped with an illegal, aftermarket device that converted it into an automatic weapon, commonly referred to as a “switch,” his plea agreement says.

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

ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Thursday found a registered sex offender guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm after he was caught by St. Louis police with a gun during a domestic dispute. 

Mario Long, now 52, was arrested Aug. 6, 2020, after St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to a home in the 4600 block of Louisiana Avenue. Long’s then-girlfriend had locked him out of the house during a dispute. Long shattered the glass on the home’s front door, assaulted his girlfriend and then got a gun from a bedroom, according to testimony at trial. The girlfriend’s daughter called police and said Long was threatening them both with the gun. 

When police arrived, Long was shouting at his girlfriend. He walked into a bedroom and hid a Taurus 9mm handgun, witnesses said during the trial. Long is a convicted felon and is barred from possessing a firearm. His prior convictions include unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, assault, child molestation, statutory rape and statutory sodomy.

Long is scheduled to be sentenced later this year. The charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Catherine Hoag and John Ware are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a woman who helped in the robbery of workers servicing an ATM in St. Louis County, Missouri to 56 months in prison.

Gregreonia Hampton, 21, drove the robber to the Vantage Credit Union on May 31, 2022, where he robbed two employees of ATM Solutions with a fully-automatic Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 firearm. When Hampton pleaded guilty in May to a charge of aiding and abetting a robbery, she admitted having enough foreknowledge of the robbery that she could have walked away.

The robber, 21-year-old Mark Anthony Diggs, was sentenced last month to 121 months in prison. Diggs pleaded guilty in April to one robbery charge and one count of possession and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Both Diggs and Hampton were ordered to repay the money they stole.

The St. Louis County Police Department, the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Three people have been indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on drug charges and have been accused of helping smuggle the drugs that killed a St. Francois County jail detainee in 2021.

Timothy L. Noll, 34, Garry “Will” Triplett, 36, and Alissa R. Hahn, 28, were indicted August 9 on a charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Triplett and Hahn are also facing a charge of distribution of a controlled substance and Noll is facing a charge of distributing a controlled substance resulting in death. 

The indictment accuses Triplett of providing controlled substances to Hahn on July 31, 2021. Hahn and others distributed drugs to Noll the next day and on August 2, 2021, Noll provided drugs to the detainee who died as a result, according to the indictment. 

A detention motion says Noll was captured on a jail video call coordinating with a drug supplier and instructing a family friend how to conceal narcotics in the spine of a bible. Noll’s cellmate later died of a fentanyl overdose within feet of the bible, according to the detention motion and statements made in court. A motion regarding Triplett says he was caught on video on July 31, 2021 supplying capsules and a bag of a crystal substance that were later hidden in the bible.

Triplett made his first appearance in court Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. Hahn pleaded not guilty August 17 and Noll pleaded not guilty the next day. Triplett and Noll waived detention hearings and will be held in jail until trial.

“We are working with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who investigate overdose deaths of detainees in correctional institutions, and we will prosecute these cases,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “If convicted in federal court, those who supply drugs that kill could spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

The charges against Noll and Triplett carry a potential penalty of a mandatory life sentence in prison. Hahn’s charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

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 case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Bluestone is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A woman from St. Louis, Missouri was sentenced Monday to 37 months in prison for committing both check fraud and pandemic fraud.

U.S. District Judge John A. Ross also ordered Nikia A. French, 30, to repay $57,173.

French pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud in March and admitted recruiting people on Instagram who were willing to let French use their bank accounts.  French created counterfeit checks, deposited them in the accounts and withdrew the money or made debit card purchases before the bank learned that the checks were bogus.

Between February 2022 and April 2022, French deposited or attempted to deposit counterfeit checks totaling at least $73,515 and received at least $34,109 in proceeds. 

French also submitted two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications in April of 2021, seeking a total of about $23,000. She falsely inflated her gross income and submitted false documents to obtain the loans. She used the money at restaurants and clothing stores and took some out in cash.

French lied on the applications when she said she had not been convicted of a felony involving fraud in the last five years. In a 2019 bank fraud case, French was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to repay nearly $62,000. The fraud then was nearly identical to what French did in 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow said in a sentencing memo.

Clow also pointed out that the first fraudulent PPP loan application was submitted about six months after French was released from prison. French exploited the pandemic for personal gain, at the expense of small businesses and employees who were at risk of losing their jobs, he wrote. 

“Today’s sentence brings to a conclusion an investigation that began with one stolen check, and ultimately led to Postal Inspectors uncovering the defendant’s involvement in multiple fraud schemes,” said Inspector in Charge Ruth Mendonça who leads the Chicago Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Field Office.  “The defendant will now be held accountable for the thousands of dollars she obtained through various criminal enterprises.”
 
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Tuesday admitted stealing cigarettes or cash from area QuikTrip stores five times. 

Terrence Gleason, 52, of Bel Ridge, pleaded guilty to three robbery charges and two charges of possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He admitted stealing cigarettes from or robbing 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 moved to activate an alarm, Gleason lifted his shirt to show his holstered firearm. The clerk put his hands in the air and Gleason left with the stolen cigarettes.

The next day at about the same time, Gleason returned. The same clerk was working. Gleason had one hand in the front pocket of his coat and the clerk believed Gleason was armed, based on Gleason’s actions the night before. Gleason demanded “all the Newports,” and put a bag on the counter. The clerk put seven packages of cigarettes in the bag. Gleason then said, “Come on bro, I know you got more than that,” at which point the clerk put six or seven cartons of cigarettes in the bag. Gleason then left.

On Dec. 10, 2021, at about 3:00 a.m., Gleason and another man entered the QuikTrip at 5909 Howdershell Road in Hazelwood. Gleason and the other man walked behind the checkout counter and began removing cartons of cigarettes. When that store employee walked behind the counter to trigger the alarm, Gleason’s accomplice pulled back his jacket, displayed a firearm and said, “Press something, I dare you.” The employee backed up and put his hands in the air and Gleason and the man left with cartons of stolen 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 believed Gleason had a gun and tried to comply, but then said they did not have any more cartons. Gleason walked behind the counter, grabbed several packages of 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 is scheduled to be sentenced January 25. The first firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, consecutive to any other charge, and the second firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum consecutive term of seven years. The robbery charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.

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 is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced a man who claimed the $10,000 bounty for a 2017 murder to nine years in prison.

Delvin Bost, 28, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted calling to confirm that a bounty was still in place for Kevin Davis Jr. and then accepting the money after the fatal shooting of Davis, 24, on June 30, 2017 in the 1900 block of Belt Avenue in St. Louis. Bost said he then paid Michael “Beezy” Johnson. A witness told investigators that Johnson fired 25 shots at Davis Jr. after chasing him down the street. 

On August 1, Judge White sentenced Johnson, 30, to 18 years in prison.

Both Bost and Johnson were involved in a narcotics conspiracy led by Maurice Herbert Lee II, 35, who had placed a bounty of between $5,000 and $15,000 on any rival gang members or drug dealers. 

Lee pleaded guilty May 2 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. In his guilty plea, Lee admitted to offering and paying the bounty for the killing of two different men. In addition to Kevin Davis, Lee admitted that another fatal shooting occurred in furtherance of the drug conspiracy, that of Alexander Noodel on May 8, 2017.

Lee is scheduled to be sentenced September 7.

Bost also admitted selling drugs on Facebook and being caught with methamphetamine on Feb. 11, 2019. Judge White ordered Bost to pay more than $16,000 in restitution to the victim’s family.

In all, 17 defendants were charged and all pleaded guilty.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul D’Agrosa and Mohsen Pasha are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Florissant, Missouri on Tuesday admitted robbing two area banks and a fast-food restaurant with what appeared to be a handgun.

Ricardo Rusan, 56, of Florissant, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of bank robbery and one other robbery charge. As part of his plea, he admitted robbing the Church’s Chicken at 5720 South Lindbergh Boulevard in Green Park, in south St. Louis County, on Jan. 1, 2019. On April 16, 2019, he robbed the Commerce Bank at 6383 Clayton Road in Clayton. Two days later, he robbed the Bank of America at 4189 Veterans Memorial Parkway in St. Peters. Investigators found blue gloves and a mask in Rusan’s car consistent with what the robber wore in two of the robberies. Rusan’s DNA was on the mask and a glove dropped by the Church’s robber.

Rusan is scheduled to be sentenced November 30. Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. 

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 is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Monday sentenced a man from Ste. Genevieve County to 34 months in prison for defrauding both Home Depot and Missouri’s unemployment insurance program.

Arthur Grass, 36, was also ordered to repay $207,000. Grass filed false unemployment claims for about 10 people beginning in May of 2020, claiming that the employees had been laid off from his construction company, AJE Construction. Grass cashed out the unemployment benefits, which had been placed on debit cards, and kicked some money back to the purported “workers” who had voluntarily provided him their personal information to use in the scheme. In all, the fraud reaped $142,423, including money from supplemental COVID-19 pandemic unemployment benefits.

Grass also admitted defrauding Home Depot on multiple occasions by filling a cart with boxes of vinyl flooring and showing employees a fraudulent receipt claiming that he’d paid for the flooring online. Grass then sold the flooring on Facebook. Charging documents say he stole about 468 boxes of flooring that way from Home Depot stores in St. Louis and St. Louis County from Jan. 5, 2023 through Feb. 6, 2023. 

“Arthur Grass conspired to defraud the Missouri Division of Employment Security (MODES) by filing fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims which caused MODES to pay more than $140,000 in benefits,” said Irene Lindow, Special Agent-in-Charge, Great Lakes Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to safeguard the UI system from those who seek to exploit these benefit programs.”

Grass was arrested on March 31, 2022 by St. Charles County police investigating catalytic converter thefts. His Jeep was in a storage lot with Grass inside. Police later found a stolen Glock 9mm pistol in a toolbox in the Jeep. Grass is a convicted felon and barred from possessing a firearm.

Grass pleaded guilty in May to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of conspiracy to steal money from the United States (unemployment benefits) and one count of wire fraud. 

The case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the St. Charles County Police Department, the Missouri Department of Labor, the Arnold Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and Home Depot Retail Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Belleville, Illinois was indicted Wednesday on charges accusing him of selling the fentanyl that killed someone in St. Louis County in December. 

The two-count indictment in U.S. District Court in St. Louis accuses Deontae’ Tre’Von Overall, 27, of selling the fentanyl that killed a man in St. Louis County on Dec. 4, 2022, and of selling drugs on July 23, 2023. 

Overall was initially charged by complaint on August 4. The complaint and affidavit say the victim contacted Overall on December 4 seeking the prescription pain pill Percocet, and bought four pills resembling Percocet from Overall at his home, which was then in St. Louis. The victim died later that day from fentanyl intoxication, charging documents say.

During the subsequent investigation, Overall sold suspected fentanyl and suspected methamphetamine to an undercover officer. A court-approved search of his home on August 3 found suspected fentanyl powder, suspected crystal methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and 20 to 30 pills resembling those sold to the victim and the undercover officer, the affidavit says.

The distribution of fentanyl resulting in death charge is punishable by 20 years to life in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both prison and a fine. The charge of distribution of a controlled substances is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, 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 St. Louis County Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a man from Hazelwood, Missouri who committed a series of scams trying to steal a total of $404,415 to 111 months in prison and ordered him to repay the money.
 
Naquan Powers, 27, pleaded guilty in March to four felony counts of bank fraud and three felony counts of aggravated ID theft. He admitted involvement in the fraudulent purchase of vehicles, a credit card scam and fraud involving two pandemic relief programs. 

In 2018 and 2019, Powers accessed multiple Discover Bank accounts belonging to other people and changed information in these accounts so he could receive debit cards and bank checks for the accounts. Powers’ intended loss for this scheme was $11,754.

Powers used fraudulent Social Security cards and driver’s licenses to apply for loans to purchase three vehicles from a Florissant dealership between June 24, 2019 and August 23, 2019. Powers bought a Chevrolet Impala with a $18,098 loan, a $42,086 Chevrolet Tahoe and a BMW 428 XI for $29,079. He was arrested trying to buy a Dodge Challenger with a $38,191 loan.

After his arrest, Powers helped others to do the same thing at dealers throughout the St. Louis and southern Illinois areas, causing a total loss of $244,374. 

In 2020 and 2021, Powers applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan and four Economic Injury and Disaster Loans, claiming he was a sole proprietor in the general freight trucking industry. Powers submitted a fraudulent tax form and a bank statement and received $20,832 in PPP funds.

“Mr. Powers not only stole individuals’ identities for his personal gain but led multiple fraud schemes including stealing money intended for legitimate businesses that were impacted by COVID-19,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. “This sentence demonstrates our diligent commitment to hold those accountable for misusing Social Security numbers.”

Five others involved with Powers’ schemes have also been charged. Four have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to between 24 and 51 months in prison. They were also ordered to pay restitution.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Two employees of Jefferson County, Missouri chiropractors involved in a disability fraud conspiracy have been sentenced for their roles in the case.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced Clarissa Pogue, 40, of DeSoto, to five years of probation to include six months of home confinement. She was also ordered to repay $286,000. On August 3, Judge Autrey sentenced Christina Barrera, 64, of St. Louis, to 14 months in prison and ordered her to repay $543,315.

Pogue and Barrera were convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in February of one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration, along with chiropractor Vivian Carbone-Hobbs. Carbone-Hobbs, now 61, of Fenton, was also convicted of 10 counts of health care fraud and two counts of theft of money from the United States. Pogue was also convicted of one count of theft of money from the United States.

The three conspired with Thomas G. Hobbs, Carbone-Hobbs’ husband, and others to fraudulently obtain disability payments for patients who were not disabled or injured.

Carbone-Hobbs and Hobbs own Power-Med Inc., a chiropractic clinic in Arnold. Hobbs, now 66, pleaded guilty in January and admitted conspiring to commit the crimes of health care fraud, making false statements, theft of government funds and Social Security fraud.

Hobbs admitted that beginning in 2011, he fraudulently assisted patients in receiving more than $3.5 million in disability benefit payments through the Social Security Administration’s Disability Trust Fund and through private disability benefit insurance providers. Hobbs charged patients thousands of dollars in exchange for the preparation of disability forms. He also coached patients in how to lie to the Social Security Administration and private insurers about their ability to perform basic activities like lifting things, sitting, standing and walking. Patients also had to pay hundreds of dollars for annual appointments to keep qualifying for disability payments.

Hobbs also used a fictitious medical license number and submitted false and fraudulent medical reports to buttress patients’ disability claims. Hobbs submitted or caused to be submitted false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to health care benefit programs for services that were not provided, medically unnecessary services or services provided by unqualified persons to make it appear that the disability patients had medical conditions.

The chiropractors, employees and patients all faced charges in the case. Hobbs and Carbone-Hobbs will be sentenced later this year. 

The cases were investigated by the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Berry, Dorothy McMurtry, Diane Klocke and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.

Anyone who suspects fraud involving the Disability Insurance Benefit Program is asked to contact the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General Hotline at: 1-800-269-0271 or https://oig.ssa.gov/report/.

ST. LOUIS –U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri who produced child pornography involving three children to 120 years in prison.

Anthony Lemicy, 44, was found guilty in March by a jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis of four counts of producing child pornography. Witnesses and evidence showed that in 2019, Lemicy sexually abused a 7-year-old that he was babysitting and took pictures and videos of the abuse. He also took videos of two other children in the shower.

“This sentence will ensure that Missouri children will now be safe from Anthony Lemicy’s predatory behavior,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “It should also serve as a notice to others that those who prey on children will be punished severely.” 

After police were alerted and before Lemicy was arrested, he fled to Tacoma, Washington. He was later found by FBI agents hiding in a clothes dryer and returned to St. Louis. 

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colleen Lang 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 woman from St. Peters, Missouri on Tuesday admitted fraudulently obtaining a total of $237,000 from two pandemic assistance programs. 

Regina Brand, 52, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one felony wire fraud charge. She admitted submitting at least 12 fraudulent applications for rental assistance under the Missouri State Assistance for Housing Relief Program to the Missouri Housing Development Commission between Sept. 1, 2021 and at least June 30, 2022. The program was intended to provide emergency assistance to landlords and renters to prevent a wave of evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brand admitted fraudulently listing “Angels Voices” or “Brand Construction” as the landlords and submitting fraudulent lease agreements to support the applications. Brand received $96,825.

Brand also admitted submitting four fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications between April 1, 2020 and at least August 25, 2021, again in the name of Angels Voices or Brand Construction. Brand made false representations on the applications, including when listing the average monthly payroll and number of employees employed by the companies. Based on the misrepresentations on the loan applications, PPP lenders wired a total of $140,261 to Brand’s bank accounts.

Brand is scheduled to be sentenced on November 15. The wire fraud charges carry a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. She will also be ordered to repay the money.

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

ST. LOUIS – A man appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday to face a federal criminal complaint accusing him of a role in a scam that tried to steal $88,000 from an elderly Missouri couple with false child pornography claims.

Yu-Chieh Huang, 22, was charged by complaint August 11 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with a felony charge of wire fraud. Charging documents say that a 78-year-old man trying to access his personal computer on August 9 was greeted with a pop-up message claiming that his computer was infected with a virus. The message instructed him to call a specified telephone number.

When the man and his 76-year-old wife called the number, they were told that their banking information had been compromised because someone had been accessing child pornography on the computer, and that they would have to pay $88,000 to avoid prosecution, the complaint says.

The couple was told to withdraw the money in multiple transactions from multiple branches of their financial institution, then photograph and package the money and await a visitor.

The couple became suspicious after completing the withdrawals, and when Huang arrived at their house on August 10 to collect the money, they refused to pay, the complaint says. After Huang left, the couple called police and met with an officer at their home. They called police again when Huang returned and officers found him at the home and arrested him, the complaint says.

Investigators believe Huang was a courier paid from $500 to $1,000 to pick up cash from scam victims, use a fraudulent Taiwanese passport to deposit cash into a bank account and then transfer the money to others via cashier’s checks, the complaint says. Huang picked up $40,000 from an elderly individual in Colorado and $40,000 from an elderly person in Oregon before traveling to St. Louis, the complaint says.

Court documents say Huang is from Taiwan.

“Criminals who take advantage of elderly individuals, whose income is often fixed, are absolutely appalling,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City Taekuk Cho. “These offenders are very organized and utilize a multitude of fear tactics to extort vulnerable people and oftentimes cause undue financial hardship.”

The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both prison and a fine.

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 Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Florissant, Missouri on Monday admitted robbing three banks, shooting at Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies and forcing his way into a woman’s apartment at gunpoint. 

Cameron A. Thomas, 31, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry to two counts of armed bank robbery, bank robbery, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

Thomas admitted that on Oct. 24, 2020, while dressed as a woman, he handed a note that said, “put money in the bag,” to a teller at the First Community State Bank in Jefferson County.

Three days later, again while dressed as a woman, Thomas entered the Electro Savings Credit Union in St. Louis County, pointed a silver semiautomatic pistol at a teller and said, “Give me all your money.” Thomas put the money in a purse and ran out of the credit union.

The next day, Thomas returned to the First Community State Bank wearing a red coat, black pants and a surgical mask. Thomas pointed a pistol at an employee and said, “This is a robbery, put your hands up.” He then put a white plastic bag on the counter and told another employee to fill it up.

Employees called police, and a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy who was in the area tried to stop Thomas, who was in a Mercedes Benz. Thomas fled, leading authorities on a chase that ended at the Walden Pond apartments in High Ridge. Thomas fled on foot, firing multiple times at the deputies following him.

He then forced his way into a woman’s apartment at gunpoint. Deputies knocked at the door, and pulled the woman from the apartment when she signaled to them that something was wrong. Before Thomas was finally arrested, he’d changed into the woman’s clothes and hidden his 9mm pistol inside the apartment. 

Thomas also admitted that two days before the robbery, he was in possession of an AK-47-style assault rifle. Police found the rifle after a traffic crash.

Thomas is a convicted felon, having been sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012 for second-degree robbery.

Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced November 9. The discharge of a firearm count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, consecutive to any other charge, and the brandishing charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison, consecutive to other charges.

The case was investigated by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Boyce is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Friday sentenced two of the final three defendants in a conspiracy that brought methamphetamine from California to St. Louis.

Judge Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced Darius McCullum, 33, to 10 years in prison. McCullum was the Los-Angeles based supplier of some of the methamphetamine. 

McCullum pleaded guilty in April to a felony charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted obtaining pounds of methamphetamine in California and then shipping it to Eric Williams in Detroit, Michigan, who mailed the resulting proceeds back to McCullum. 

Williams then sold the drug to others around the country. Lethem Thompson-Bey obtained methamphetamine from Williams via Ashley D. Gibson in Lexington, Kentucky and then sold it to Steven L. Bell and others in St. Louis. 

The group transported and distributed illegal narcotics in numerous states including California, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky and Texas and used “stash” houses in Detroit, Lexington, St. Louis, and elsewhere to store drugs.

Investigators seized about 4.8 kilograms of methamphetamine on April 21, 2021, another 8 kilograms on methamphetamine on May 4, 2021 and 3.5 kilograms on May 24, 2021. On August 23, 2021, investigators executed a court-approved search warrant at McCullum’s home in Los Angeles and found several pounds of marijuana and three guns, including one that had been stolen in Little Rock, Arkansas two years earlier, his plea agreement says. 

"Drug trafficking organizations, like this one involving McCullum, will use every method they can to get their poison distributed," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Colin Dickey, lead of Drug Enforcement Administration investigations in Eastern Missouri. "DEA and our partners have shut down this operation of shipping methamphetamine from Los Angeles to the Midwest and to the network of street dealers who then distributed it into our neighborhoods. Fortunately, this is one drug dealership that we can call closed for business.”

On Friday, Judge Fleissig sentenced Jasmine C. Taylor, 35, to two years in prison and Haley B. Mason, 21 to the time she’d already served behind bars. Taylor transported money and drugs for Williams and Gibson. Mason was a courier who was caught with $65,250 cash in a suitcase at the on April 22, 2021. 

Bell, 31, of St. Louis County, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June. Williams, 32 of Jackson, Tenn., was sentenced to 186 months in prison in May. Gibson, 26, of Lexington, was sentenced to 78 months in prison in April. Thompson-Bey, 28, of St. Louis, received a 126-month sentence last August. All 20 defendants in the case pleaded guilty.

Defendants agreed to forfeit $181,000 cash seized during the investigation, as well as jewelry, ammunition, three pistols, two AR-15-style rifles and an AR-15-style pistol.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Friday sentenced a former employee of a St. Louis County realty company to three years in prison for embezzling $487,000 from her employer.

Crystal Hendrix, 50, of Festus, was also fined $10,000 and ordered to repay the money she stole. 

Hendrix handled payroll as part of her duties with the real estate company and had access to the company bank accounts. From about Jan. 8, 2018 to Dec. 9, 2020, Hendrix sent over 140 payments totaling approximately $483,037 to her own bank account. Hendrix used the money at restaurants and to buy a vehicle, her plea agreement says.

Hendrix pleaded guilty in March to three counts of wire fraud. 

The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gwendolyn Carroll and Edward Dowd III prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a man involved in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine to five years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

Nicholas L. Nixon, 23, pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. He admitted distributing drugs and accompanying a co-defendant, Marvell Sherrell, who twice sold fentanyl and methamphetamine to a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He also admitted throwing a Micro Draco AK-47-style pistol and 1,181 pills containing fentanyl out of a vehicle that was being pursued by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on May 5, 2022.

Sherrell, 23, pleaded guilty July 10 to three felony counts: conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, possessing one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a machine gun.

Sherrell admitted entering into an agreement to sell drugs with Nixon, Jacquez T. Love, 25, Turhan Robinson Jr., 23, Arion D. Strickland, 29, and others. He admitted selling methamphetamine or both methamphetamine and fentanyl to the DEA source three times and sending that source to another person for the drug. 

Sherrell also admitted driving during the May 5, 2022 police chase, during which he drove at a high speed, violated traffic lights and crashed into another vehicle. Strickland discarded a Kel Tec rifle during the chase and a fully automatic AR-15-style weapon was found where Robinson had been sitting after the Chevrolet Impala became disabled and the chase finally ended.

Sherrell admitted that when deputy U.S. Marshals arrested Love at the apartment Sherrell, Nixon and Love shared in unincorporated St. Louis County between Maryland Heights and Creve Coeur on May 12, 2022, they found drugs and guns. They found methamphetamine and a fully automatic .40-caliber Glock handgun in Sherrell’s bedroom, along with two “switches” that convert a Glock into a machine gun. 

Sherrell is scheduled to be sentenced October 10 and faces at least 10 years in prison. The three other defendants in the case also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a St. Louis County, Missouri man who bought and re-sold checks stolen from the mail to 10 months in prison.

Dennis Cooperwood Jr., 19, of Country Club Hills, admitted being caught by St. Louis County Police in possession of about 179 business and personal checks on April 12, 2022 that had been taken from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes.

Officers on patrol in the Spanish Lake area spotted a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road with multiple people standing at the windows. After the crowd dispersed and the vehicle drove away, officers stopped the vehicle and found Cooperwood in the back seat wearing a shoulder bag containing a gun and the checks. Cooperwood told officers that he bought stolen checks for $5 to $10 each and would remove the writing on the checks before re-selling them for $20 to $25. 

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow said the checks belonged to about 100 individuals and businesses, and the case comes at a time of an increase in both mail theft and associated fraud which was undermining “the public’s sense of security and confidence in a vital government service.” 

In court, Clow said the impact of Cooperwood’s actions “goes beyond any sort of financial harm.” In letters to Judge Ross, five victims said the theft of their mail snarled their finances, made them fear for the security of their personal information and cost them hours of work closing checking accounts and dealing with creditors. One wedding officiant said lost wedding license documentation delayed medical treatment for a woman for nearly four months over insurance issues. 

 “The successful investigation of the defendant’s operation resulted in the recovery of 179 checks stolen from the U.S. mail, and the prevention of potential long-term financial harm to numerous account holders,” said Inspector in Charge Ruth Mendonça who leads the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Chicago Division, which includes the St. Louis Field Office.  “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and its law enforcement partners will continue to work together to hold mail thieves accountable.”  

Cooperwood pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of possession of stolen mail matter. 

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis on Wednesday admitted possessing and sharing child pornography and fleeing from St. Louis while on house arrest. 

Daniel Bert, 38, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of transportation of child pornography. He admitted that after receiving two tips about Bert, the FBI discovered he was discussing his sexual interest in young children on Kik Messenger. An undercover FBI special agent began communicating with Bert on another app, Wickr, and Bert sent a picture of his genitals to the agent. He also expressed his sexual interest in young children, his plea agreement says. In text messages, Bert told the agent that he had a hard drive full of child pornography. On the same day that agents obtained a search warrant for Bert’s home, Bert asked the undercover agent to join him in an online video chat during which Bert played videos containing child pornography. 

The search discovered child sexual abuse material on multiple electronic devices, including laptops, phones and hard drives, Bert’s plea says.

At his sentencing, Bert faces at least five years in prison for the charge. He faces the potential for additional prison time under the recommended sentencing guidelines because he removed his GPS monitoring device while on house arrest and fled St. Louis. He was arrested in Florida on May 11.

The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman 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 N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a man from Charleston, Missouri to 100 months in prison for selling methamphetamine four times.

Jonathan L. McCatrey, 32, pleaded guilty in April to four counts of distributing methamphetamine. He admitted selling the drug to an undercover Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant on four occasions in February and March of 2022 in a parking lot in Charleston. McCatrey sold about one-quarter pound of methamphetamine on the second occasion and about one-half pound each the third and fourth time he met the sergeant, his plea agreement says.

The case was investigated by the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – Three Romanian citizens have been sentenced in St. Louis for running a “short-change fraud” in stores across the country.

U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Monday sentenced Daniel Rostas, 30, to 15 months in prison and Loredana Angel, 35, to 10 months in prison. On May 31, Judge Pitlyk sentenced Legenda Rostas, 28, to two years in prison and ordered her to repay $224,666. Restitution amounts for Angel and Daniel Rostas have not yet been determined.

All three pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and illegal reentry of an alien. All admitted engaging in sleight of hand to defraud Target stores for years while buying Visa gift cards. When purchasing the cards, they would display the full purchase price in cash, then fold over a portion and keep it while handing the rest of the money to store employees. They targeted younger or less experienced employees and wired the money they made to relatives in Romania. 

Legenda Rostas was involved in $224,666 in fraud since 2017, her plea agreement says, with Angel admitting about $83,865 in fraud. Records show Daniel Rostas wired about $62,534 to Romania and elsewhere. 

“Fraud is often mistaken for a victimless crime,” said acting Special Agent in Charge of the HSI Kansas City Area of Operations Taekuk Cho. “But when individuals commit these types of crimes, whether it be through heightened prices to recoup lost funds, employee layoffs, or a multitude of other possible losses to the economy, these criminals are most certainly victimizing consumers and businesses.”

Loredana Angel and Legenda Rostas told authorities that they are sisters and that the Rostas are married.

All three also admitted entering the country illegally after being removed from the United States before. Daniel Rostas has been removed twice.

The case was investigated by the Arnold Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri who impregnated a minor and sexually abused her when she was in foster care to 27 years in prison.
 
Edward L. Wiseman, 43, sexually abused a minor for multiple years and impregnated her when she was 14. After she was placed in foster care, Wiseman sent her naked pictures of himself and requested the same from her. He then arranged to meet her for sex when she was 16.

That victim’s younger sister told authorities that Wiseman had also sexually abused her. Wiseman disputes those allegations.

Law enforcement officers later found child pornography on Wiseman’s phone.

Judge Ross told Wiseman in Friday’s hearing that his conduct was “horrendous” and that he represented a “continuing threat” to the community.

Wiseman, 43, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two felonies: coercion and enticement of a minor and solicitation of child pornography.

“Today, Mr. Wiseman will begin to pay for his crimes against an innocent child,” said Special Agent in Charge Travis Gibson of the U.S. Secret Service’s St. Louis Field Office. “The Secret Service is proud to support Project Safe Childhood, and we commend our law enforcement partners for their tireless work to put an end to this devastating abuse.”

The U.S. Secret Service, the North County Police Cooperative 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 – A second man involved in a drug robbery conspiracy that resulted in the fatal shooting of three people in 2021 pleaded guilty Friday to federal drug and gun charges.

Demorion Little, 24, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one felony marijuana distribution conspiracy count and one count of aiding and abetting the discharge of one or more firearms in furtherance of the marijuana trafficking conspiracy. Those firearm discharges resulted in the death of Rocoby Rodgers on Feb. 25, 2021 and Kortlin Williams and Johnnie Jones on March 16, 2021, Little’s plea agreement says.

In his plea, Little admitted conspiring with his co-defendant, Antaveon Bernard Le'Vell Kent, to steal and sell marijuana. The pair used Facebook to communicate with each other, pick their targets and then arrange to buy marijuana from their victims. 

On Feb. 25, 2021, Little contacted Rodgers via Facebook Messenger to ask about purchasing quarter-pound packages of marijuana. They arranged to meet in the 2300 block of Blair Avenue in St. Louis. Police later found Rodgers dead in his car. That night, Little used his Facebook account to advertise that he had marijuana for sale.

Kent and Little arranged to meet Williams and Jones on March 16, 2021 in the 1100 block of Montgomery Street. When the victims arrived, Kent and Little fired into their vehicle, killing Williams and Jones and injuring a third occupant, Little’s plea agreement says.

Kent pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to distribute marijuana, attempting to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and two charges of possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime that resulted in the fatal shootings of Williams and Jones.

In February, Judge Pitlyk sentenced Kent, now 23, of Florissant, to 26 years in prison. Little is scheduled to be sentenced November 3, and both sides have agreed to recommend a 28-year prison sentence.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police. 

ST. LOUIS – A woman who worked for a pet food company in Montgomery City, Missouri on Friday admitted fraudulently obtaining pain pills meant for animals. 

Mackenzie Noel Deeker, 39, of Montgomery County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to a felony count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge.

Deeker, who was animal health supervisor for the company, was responsible for ordering and maintaining records for controlled substances, including the pain medication tramadol. After the company stopped using tramadol because research in the veterinary field questioned its effectiveness, Deeker continued to order the drug by using the company’s Drug Enforcement Administration researcher registration and the DEA registration information belonging to an independent veterinarian working with the company. 

In her plea, Deeker admitted diverting tramadol for her personal use. She continued ordering the drug to rectify shortages in the company’s records due to her personal use of the drug. In one example given in Deeker’s plea agreement, on April 30, 2021, she called in a prescription for 90 tablets to a local pharmacy, claiming that it was authorized by the veterinarian for a dog named “Dandee.” Dandee had been euthanized more than two months earlier, however.

At Deeker’s November 2 sentencing, both sides have agreed to recommend probation. She has agreed to pay $5,200 to the veterinarian, who was suspended by the company for eight weeks while they investigated the missing tramadol. 

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohsen Pasha is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri who repeatedly harassed and threatened to rape five women to 71 months in prison.

After his release from prison, Robert D. Merkle, 54, will be on supervised release for three years, during which he will be barred from using or possessing electronic devices and accessing the internet without permission.

“Robert Merkle has terrorized innocent women for years,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “This lengthy prison sentence and the term of supervised release will prevent him from harassing women for nearly nine years, and hopefully deter him from engaging in similar behavior ever again.” 

At his guilty plea in March, Merkle admitted harassing women in the St. Louis area and across the country for months, while he was on parole for similar crimes with different victims. Merkle met several of the women on dating sites and worked with another woman. He used email, multiple cell phones and a service that can send texts anonymously to threaten the women.

Merkle contacted a St. Louis County woman who he’d met on a dating site more than seven years earlier, sending a series of text messages in which he said he’d made a copy of her house key and was planning on breaking into her home two days later and raping her. She then contacted the Town and Country police.

In a letter to Judge Clark, one of Merkle’s earlier victims wrote, “He has a deeply rooted problem, where he seemingly gets a thrill out of tormenting women online and via text.” She said dealing with Merkle has been “crippling” at times.

Another wrote that Merkle’s “actions have shown to be more aggressive and inherently dangerous over time.”

Yet another said Merkle called for two years at random times day and night, threatening her and her daughter when the girl was as young as five years old.

Judge Clark called Merkle “a danger to society” and his conduct “tremendously troubling.”

Merkle pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court to the five felony counts he was facing: two counts of interstate communication of threats and three counts of cyberstalking.

He still faces a pending felony charge of harassment in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Merkle was charged with harassment in 2017 and 2018 in Jefferson County Circuit Court and St. Louis Circuit Court, resulting in a three-year prison sentence. He was living in a halfway house in St. Louis at the time he committed his new, federal crimes. 

The FBI, the Town and Country Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Glen Ellyn (Illinois) Police Department and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and the Gulfport Police Department in Mississippi investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang is prosecuting the case.

Resources and information for stalking victims is available at the Office for Victims of Crime via this link: https://ovc.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh226/files/pubs/helpseries/HelpBrochure_Stalking.html.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – The United States Attorney's Office announced that Jammie Renfro, 35, of Kennett, Missouri, was sentenced Thursday to 130 months in federal prison for the offenses of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine. Renfro appeared for his sentencing hearing today before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

At a guilty plea hearing in April, Renfro admitted that beginning in May of 2022, and continuing through June 23, 2022, he and another were working with John Andrew Schoolcraft to distribute methamphetamine throughout Dunklin County, Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol utilized confidential informants and audio and video recording devices to conduct controlled drug buys of methamphetamine from Renfro and the others involved. The case culminated in the execution of a search warrant at Schoolcraft’s residence in Kennett where officers seized over four pounds of methamphetamine.

This case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, assisted by the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter handled the prosecution for the government.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Wednesday admitted fraudulently applying for and receiving a $149,900 pandemic loan.

Cecil Jones, 41, pleaded guilty to unlawful transfer of an identification document and admitted submitting a fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration. The July 25, 2020 online application contained Jones’ name but a Social Security number that was not assigned to him. The application also included a photograph of Jones holding a counterfeit Missouri driver’s license that showed Jones’ picture and name, spelled as “Cecill.”  Based upon this fraudulent application, the SBA deposited $149,900 into a Regions Bank account owned and controlled by Jones. 

At his November 6 sentencing, Jones could face up to 15 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both. He will also be ordered to repay the money.

The case was investigated by Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke is prosecuting the case.

A Missouri man was sentenced today for the arson of the Cape Girardeau Islamic Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Nicholas John Proffitt, 44, was sentenced to 191 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $551,217.91 in restitution. He previously pleaded guilty on Dec. 12, 2022, to using fire to damage religious property and to using fire in the commission of a federal felony. 

According to court documents and statements made during the plea and sentencing hearings, Proffitt intentionally set fire to the Cape Girardeau Islamic Center on April 24, 2020, which was the first morning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, because of the building’s religious character. The fire resulted in significant damage to the Islamic Center.

“This defendant has now been held accountable for setting fire to an Islamic center that served as a meeting place for Muslim community members in Cape Girardeau, Missouri,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Attacks on mosques in our country are attacks on people of faith that undermine the fundamental right to practice one’s religion free from fear or violence. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce federal laws that protect all houses of worship, regardless of denomination.”

“This is the third time Nicholas Proffitt has attacked Islamic institutions, in Missouri and elsewhere,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming for the Eastern District of Missouri. “He has now been sentenced to a significant prison term that will protect the community from further persecution for a long time.”

“The right to pray as you wish is at the core of our nation’s ideals,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “When someone attacks a house of worship, they attack that American right, and they need to be help accountable. I commend the work of the ATF and all our federal partners in bringing this defendant to Justice.”

“Nicholas Proffitt destroyed a religious building, but he couldn’t take away the constitutional right to religious freedom,” said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Field Office. “The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution.”

The FBI St. Louis Field Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Perryville Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hahn for the Eastern District of Missouri prosecuted the case with assistance from Trial Attorney Daniel Grunert of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.

For more information and resources on the department’s efforts to combat hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced the leader of a large-scale, long-term St. Louis fentanyl trafficking ring to 15 years in prison. 

Jamore Clark, 40, of unincorporated St. Louis County, admitted in a guilty plea in January that he had been caught with over 800 grams of fentanyl on March 6, 2020 after fleeing law enforcement. He also admitted possessing firearms while involved in fentanyl dealing. 

"The fentanyl Drug Enforcement Administration investigators seized the day Jamore Clark was arrested would have been the equivalent of nearly 45,000 lethal doses," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Colin Dickey, lead of DEA investigations in Eastern Missouri. "DEA investigators know the seriousness of fentanyl’s impact on the safety and health of St. Louis citizens, which is driving drug-induced deaths to new highs. That makes this sentence particularly satisfying.”

Clark pleaded guilty in January to possession with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl. All nine others indicted in the case have also pleaded guilty and received sentences of up to 10 years in prison. They include Jason Stanley Jones, 38, of Ballwin; Arie T. Graham, 34; Clarence Lee Totten, 33; Justin Lee Hughes, 36, of Florissant; Martez Lamar Murphy, 29, of Florissant; Keven Treyvon Huddlen, 30, of Florissant; Kevin Cunningham, 37, of St. Louis; Alaena C. Patrick, 37, of Flordell Hills; and Natalie J. Westerman, 46, of St. Peters.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a registered nurse who stole fentanyl from the hospital where she worked to three years of probation, 200 hours of public service work and a $5,000 fine. 

Judge Limbaugh also ordered Lindsey M. Francis, 35, to undergo drug treatment. She will be subject to random drug screenings.

Francis was formerly a nurse at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. On Jan. 15, 2022, a colleague discovered a used syringe in a locker room in the hospital’s emergency department. A subsequent investigation revealed that a vial of fentanyl had been tampered with. Confronted by hospital staff, Francis said that since June or July of 2021, she had taken and injected leftover fentanyl due to work and personal stress, her plea agreement says. The total amount of fentanyl diverted was determined to be less than 4 grams. 

Francis pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in May to one count of unlawfully acquiring a controlled substance. 

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced a member of a St. Louis drug conspiracy that killed two rivals to 18 years in prison. 

Michael “Beezy” Johnson, 30, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in May to one count of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. He admitted discharging a firearm in furtherance of the drug conspiracy, and admitted that Kevin Davis Jr., 24, was shot on June 30, 2017 in the 1900 block of Belt Avenue in St. Louis.

A witness told investigators that Johnson fired 25 shots at Davis Jr. after chasing him down the street. One of the leaders of the drug conspiracy, Maurice Herbert Lee II, had placed a bounty of between $5,000 and $15,000 on any rival gang members or drug dealers. Earlier on the day of the murder, another member of the conspiracy, Delvin Bost, called Lee to confirm that a bounty for Davis was still being offered. Bost later claimed credit, received $10,000 from Lee and then paid Johnson, plea agreements by Lee and Bost say.

Lee pleaded guilty May 2 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. He admitted being responsible for between 4 and 12 kilograms of fentanyl and between 500 grams and 1.5 kilos of methamphetamine. He also admitted that another fatal shooting occurred in furtherance of the drug conspiracy, that of Alexander Noodel on May 8, 2017.

"If ever there was an example of how drug trafficking and violence go hand in hand, this is it," said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration division that leads DEA investigations in Missouri and Kansas, as well as southern Illinois. "Not surprising that individuals who are willing to sell illicit drugs that could kill someone are willing to engage in other criminal activities that result in death. We must hold them responsible for their actions.”

Lee is scheduled to be sentenced September 7. Bost is scheduled to be sentenced August 29. Three other members of the conspiracy are also scheduled to be sentenced that week. In all, 17 defendants were charged and all pleaded guilty.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul D’Agrosa and Mohsen Pasha are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – The owners of a Fenton, Missouri-based clinical testing laboratory have agreed to pay $1.9 million and relinquish another nearly $7 million being held in escrow to settle civil claims alleging that they submitted claims for lab tests that were not medically necessary.

The settlement agreement was signed by Thyroid Specialty Laboratory Inc., which does business as TEN Healthcare (TEN), their management company, 3890 Management LLC, and TEN Marketing, which employs the sales and marketing staff of TEN.

The settlement will resolve allegations that TEN billed for tests that were not medically necessary. The government alleges that from June 12, 2018 to July 3, 2023, TEN falsely represented to medical providers that TEN’s Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing panels were reasonable and medically necessary. The government alleges that until about Feb. 10, 2021, TEN used a requisition form that ensured that medical providers did not make an independent medical necessity decision about each laboratory test ordered by including PCR tests that were not medically necessary or reasonable when providers selected a URI or UTI PCR panel. The panel included over thirty pathogens that lacked a common symptomatology and, therefore, did not reasonably require PCR testing to rule out the included pathogens, the government alleges.

Even after Feb. 10, 2021, TEN continued to represent to those providers and to the public that the entire URI and UTI PCR panels were reasonable and superior to other forms of testing, the government alleges.

TEN allegedly falsely submitted claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Railroad Retirement Board for their URI and UTI PCR panels of tests when they knew or should have known that the tests were not reasonable or medically necessary.

TEN continued to submit claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the RRB for their URI and UTI PCR panels even after Medicare began rejecting certain billing codes. Rather than deciding to stop billing for those panels or re-evaluate the legitimacy of such panels, TEN selected other billing codes to circumvent the rejections it was receiving from Medicare, the government alleges. 

From on Jan. 1, 2016, to March 1, 2021, TEN also allegedly submitted false claims for reimbursement for therapeutic drug assays and specimen validity testing using certain CPT codes at the same time as they submitted claims for reimbursement using a different code that incorporates some of the same tests, the government alleges. TEN was not entitled to the additional reimbursement, but continued to submit these claims even after Medicaid conducted an audit of the TEN Healthcare Entities in 2017 and collected an overpayment in 2019 due to these billing practices, the government alleges.

On May 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services suspended Medicare payments to TEN that now total more than $6.9 million. 

“This Settlement Agreement is neither an admission of liability by the TEN Healthcare Entities nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded,” the agreement says.

"Laboratories have a responsibility to ensure that claims they submit to Medicare are for legitimate and medically necessary services," said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). "HHS-OIG is committed to ensuring that providers fulfill that fundamental obligation, and to investigating those who, with reckless disregard for American taxpayers and patients, attempt to waste or defraud federal health care programs."

The case was investigated by HHS-OIG, the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric handled the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Friday sentenced a man from St. Louis who injured two deputy U.S. marshals, one permanently, during his arrest to 27 years in prison.

Emilio Justin Sandoval, now 34, had been indicted on felony methamphetamine charges in 2021 and the U.S. Marshals were tasked with arresting him. On Nov. 10, 2021, they found him at his home. Sandoval and his significant other ran to a vehicle and tried to escape. He then rammed marshals’ vehicles multiple times. One deputy marshal suffered serious injuries to his left knee, left elbow and left hand. The other was struck by the open passenger door, knocked down and dragged by Sandoval’s vehicle. She suffered serious, permanent and life-threatening injuries to her head, neck and spine.

What began as a drug case “quickly transitioned into an attempted murder case as a result of Mr. Sandoval’s actions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rea said during Friday’s hearing, adding that “’attempted murder’ is not too strong a term.”

“But for the bravery, tenacity, and quick thinking” of the marshals, “there could have been very different, horrific outcomes for everyone involved,” Rea said.

Rea said the case was not about Sandoval. “It is about the courageous members of the United States Marshals Service who perform their jobs day-in and day-out with the utmost professionalism and commitment to serve with absolutely zero fanfare or need for recognition – all the while never knowing what threat awaits them at any given moment.”

Judge Schelp agreed, saying attacks on law enforcement “will not be something that will ever be taken lightly. They put their lives on the line for all of us.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Sandoval’s drug sales in December 2019, learning that he was storing and selling methamphetamine out of his home in the 4400 block of Dewey Avenue in St. Louis. Sandoval sold two ounces of methamphetamine on Oct. 20, 2020 for $1,000, which led to a consensual search of his home and the discovery of a total of 545 more grams of methamphetamine, three guns and $11,234 in a safe.

Sandoval pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and two counts of assaulting an officer of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated this case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Friday sentenced a man from St. Charles County who possessed and shared child pornography over social media to 12 years in prison.

Judge Sippel also ordered James Schoggins, 42, to pay a total of $12,000 to four victims whose images he shared online.

Schoggins pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of possession of child pornography. He admitted possessing 421 videos and 148 images of child pornography. He had videos and images on his computer of a girl dating back to when she was 13 or 14. Schoggins told the minor what type of images and videos to send to him and engaged in sexual communications with her, his plea says.

Schoggins also sent child pornography via Kik Messenger and recommended a way to share child sexual abuse material. Claiming to be a 17-year-old male, Schoggins contacted a 16-year-old via WhatsApp and exchanged nude pictures with her.

After Schoggins accessed child pornography on his Snapchat account, the company reported him to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, triggering an investigation by law enforcement.

The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Cybercrime Task Force and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is handling 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 was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday on fentanyl distribution charges.

The indictment accuses Alejandro Chacon-Martinez, 20, of possession with the intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing fentanyl on July 17. A criminal complaint filed July 18 says Chacon-Martinez was stopped the day before at a gas station in Fenton, Missouri as he was traveling east on Interstate 44 in a car with a Mexican license plate. A K-9 detected the odor of drugs and investigators found ten individually wrapped kilograms of suspected fentanyl concealed in side panels in the trunk of the car Chacon-Martinez was driving, the complaint says.

The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both.

Charges set forth in an indictment or 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 Drug Enforcement Administration and St. Louis County Police Department are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dane Rennier is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri who committed a $1.6 million credit card fraud scheme to 14 years and seven months in prison. 

Michael W. Burrus, 50, was also ordered to repay the money.

Burrus and others obtained stolen information for business customers of Lowe’s, including names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit card account numbers. Burrus used the information to gain access to the credit card accounts of the businesses, applied for additional credit cards and changed the mailing address on the accounts. Burrus then made purchases with the credit cards, all without the knowledge and consent of the 40 business victims. Burrus and others caused a total loss of more than $1.6 million.

Burrus pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of bank fraud. 

It was the second time that Burrus committed the same type of fraud. Burrus is still paying off a total of $335,152 in restitution ordered in a 2017 fraud case involving two other men. Burrus pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and three counts of bank fraud and was sentenced in 2018 to two years in prison. He was on supervised release at the time of his new crime.

“The United States Secret Service will continue to work with our private sector partners to aggressively target individuals and groups who attempt to take advantage of retail business financial systems,” said Special Agent in Charge Travis Gibson of the U.S. Secret Service St. Louis Field Office.  “I commend the exceptional work of our partners with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and emphasize our agency’s ongoing commitment to combatting fraud at every level.”

“The defendant in this case operated a bank fraud conspiracy for 17 months, bilking 40 businesses out of $1.6 million,” said Inspector in Charge Ruth Mendonca who heads the Chicago Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Field Office.  “Today’s sentencing sends a message that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and its law enforcement partners will aggressively investigate such financial crimes in pursuit of justice for victims.”

The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gwen Carroll, Kyle Bateman and Edward Dowd III prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A doctor who owns multiple urgent care centers in the St. Louis, Missouri area was arrested Thursday on an indictment accusing him and his office manager of committing health care fraud.

Dr. Sonny Saggar, 55, and Renita Barringer, 50, were each indicted Wednesday on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of making false statements related to a health care matter. They were arrested, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday.

The indictment says Dr. Saggar has owned and operated health care-related businesses, including Downtown Urgent Care LLC, Creve Coeur Urgent Care LLC, and, since about September 2017, St. Louis General Hospital (SLGH). SLGH is an urgent care and primary care clinic with two locations: 916 Olive Street in St. Louis and 13035 Olive Boulevard in unincorporated St. Louis County near Creve Coeur.

Barringer was the office manager of SLGH and was later added to the board of directors.

The indictment says Dr. Saggar, Barringer and others conspired to make false statements to Medicare and Medicaid by billing for services performed by multiple assistant physicians (APs) as if Dr. Saggar had provided those services, even if he was out of town or abroad. 

In order to legally provide medical services in Missouri, assistant physicians must be supervised by a physician under a "collaborative practice arrangement" or "CPA" that restricts the AP's ability to provide medical services and limits their practice areas to medically underserved rural or urban areas.

Dr. Saggar promoted SLGH as a "stepping stone" for medical school graduates who had been unable to secure a residency and were ineligible to obtain a standard license to practice medicine. At least 39 APs have worked at SLGH since January 2018, the indictment says.

Dr. Saggar and Barringer recruited physicians to sign up to supervise the APs, falsely telling them that they merely needed to sign blank, undated CPA Verification Forms to fulfill their roles, the indictment says.

The APs often did not receive any training from their supervising physicians, who were not continuously present despite a requirement mandating 120 hours of clinic time together before the APs may practice without the presence of a physician, the indictment says. It also says Dr. Saggar and Barringer discouraged APs from seeking training and supervision from their purported assigned collaborating physicians. The Creve Coeur location was not a medically underserved rural or urban area, making it ineligible for a CPA, the indictment says.

In January of 2022, Dr. Saggar hired a co-conspirator who had been indicted in another case to be the sole collaborating physician at the Creve Coeur location but did not disclose to Medicaid that the co-conspirator was performing services there, the indictment says.

The conspiracy charge and the false statements charge are each 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. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the FBI and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are investigating this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday in connection with a 2011 St. Louis County, Missouri homicide.

Michael Grady, 68, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Wednesday’s superseding indictment adds Grady to a 2021 indictment against Victoria Rena Williams, 65, that is still pending. Williams has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. 

The indictment accuses Williams of enlisting Grady’s help to find someone to murder Charles Harris III, who was fatally shot on Oct. 5, 2011. Williams and Harris were in a romantic relationship.

On Aug. 27, 2010, Williams started the application process for a $250,000 life insurance police for Harris, specifically asking if the policy would provide coverage if Harris was robbed and killed, the indictment says. Before and after she contacted the insurance company, she regularly was in phone contact with Grady, the indictment says.

The indictment says Williams and Grady discussed how to introduce the killers to Harris, later arranging for potential clients to meet Harris at his home on Oct. 5, 2011. Harris sold suits out of his home to people he knew or through trusted referrals.

After Harris’ death, Williams contacted the life insurance company to collect the proceeds of the insurance policy with Grady’s help, the indictment says. After Williams received $224,444 on Feb. 28, 2014, she obtained a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife that was primarily used for Grady’s benefit, the indictment says.

Williams received $175,762 from another insurance policy on April 25, 2014.

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 County Police Department and the FBI are investigating the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a former supervisory motor vehicle inspector with the Missouri State Highway Patrol to 15 months in prison for taking thousands of dollars in cash bribes.

Judge Schelp also ordered Larry S. Conrad, 67, to perform 100 hours of community service and pay a $20,000 fine, part of which represented the bribe money that he’d already spent. 

At his guilty plea in April, Conrad admitted accepting a total of about $14,020 in individual bribes of $40 to $160 to falsify forms and approve inspections of vehicles that had been damaged and had salvage titles or were listed as “abandoned,” even if he never saw the vehicle.

Conrad “bypassed the entire safety system that was put in place by the state of Missouri and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to ensure that vehicles were safe to operate on our roads,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said during Thursday’s hearing, “potentially placing unwitting drivers and other motorists in harm’s way.”

In a sentencing memorandum, Goldsmith wrote that Conrad accepted hundreds of bribes over at least six months before being caught. 

After receiving a tip about Conrad’s conduct, investigators recorded Conrad taking cash bribes that had been placed in the driver’s side door pocket, the memo says. When he was approached by law enforcement on Sept. 29, 2022, Conrad lied and denied accepting any cash payments that day. After being told that there was audio and video evidence of the bribes, Conrad admitted accepting a small amount of cash, and took it out of his pocket. Pressed further, Conrad admitted accepting additional bribes that day, and took cash out of his pants pockets five different times, eventually admitting that he had taken $610 that day, the memo says. After falsely claiming that he kept money from other bribes in a safe, Conrad made a full confession and allowed the FBI to retrieve $6,565 in envelopes that he’d stashed underneath the rear seat of his personal truck. 

Conrad issued passing motor vehicle inspections and certified motor vehicles which he had not even physically inspected, including at least one that was so “substantially damaged as not being in working and driving condition,” Goldsmith wrote. His actions “allowed for the sale of vehicles, some of which had latent and undisclosed damage, to unsuspecting individuals who unwittingly trusted that defendant and the Highway Patrol had conducted proper inspections,” Goldsmith wrote.

Conrad’s primary duty was to perform motor vehicle inspections at the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop C facility in south St. Louis County. There is no fee for the inspections. If the vehicle passes, an inspector signs and certifies forms required for motor vehicle owners to apply for original Missouri Certificates of Title.

Conrad pleaded guilty to one felony charge of using a facility in interstate commerce, a cellular telephone, to facilitate his bribery scheme. 

The case was investigated by the FBI, with the cooperation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A woman from St. Peters, Missouri on Wednesday admitted defrauding a pandemic-era loan program out of $100,927.

Francheska D. Reese, 36, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud. She admitted that between March 30, 2020, and at least Jan. 24, 2023, she devised a scheme to defraud a Paycheck Protection Program lender. Reese submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application for 1st Stop Child Development Center LLC on Jan. 21, 2021. 1st Stop had never filed federal income or employment tax returns since it was registered with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office by Reese in September of 2018. But Reese falsely claimed her company employed seven full-time employees who were paid a total of $40,371 per month. She also falsely claimed that she would use the loan, which was intended to save businesses during the pandemic, on payroll, rent, mortgage interest and utilities.

She transferred the $100,927 loan into her personal account and spent the money on personal retail and car expenses, among other things, her plea agreement says.

At her sentencing October 25, Reese could face up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both prison and a fine. She will also be ordered to repay the money.

The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman 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 – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon from Cahokia Heights, Illinois to 51 months in prison for possessing a pistol converted into a machine gun at a St. Louis, Missouri hotel.

On Dec. 9, 2021, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers caught Henry Miller with a 9mm Glock pistol that had been modified with a device, sometimes referred to as a Glock “switch,” that converted it into a fully automatic weapon. The Glock had a 29-round extended magazine. A 17-round magazine was also in the satchel.

Police had been summoned to the hotel after Miller rented a room using a stranger’s credit card information. Later in the day, police found him in the lobby with a blue satchel containing the Glock and a backpack that contained 300 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, $2,889 in cash and another conversion device. The Glock conversion device alone, even if not attached to a weapon, is a machine gun under federal law. There has been a dangerous increase in the devices being used and found in the St. Louis area and around the country.

Miller later admitted knowing that the Glock had been modified and admitted testing it to see if it worked.

Miller, 33, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of one or more machine guns.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Eight people have been indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on charges alleging that they defrauded a national car rental company and stole at least 19 vehicles worth more than $1.1 million.

Tyrell A. Oliver, 38, and Steven B. Matthews, 39, both of Atlanta, and New York residents Shawnta B. Fonseca, 32, Reginald M. Glenn, 35, Rashad Holder, 33, James E. McGhaney, 34, Marlique J. McGhaney, 33, and Daquasia M. Robinson, 32, were each indicted on a wire fraud conspiracy charge July 19. Other charges include wire fraud or both aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. The indictment was unsealed Wednesday as arrests began.

The indictment accuses the conspirators of reserving rental cars using stolen credit card information and stolen identities and then picking up and never returning those vehicles. The indictment says Oliver and other co-conspirators obtained stolen credit card information and personally identifying information belonging to multiple identity theft victims in the United States. Oliver then made car rental reservations using the stolen personal information and paid co-conspirators to pick up the vehicles, which were primarily SUVs, the indictment says. The conspirators flew to airports in the eastern United States and Midwest and used fake driver’s licenses and counterfeit credit cards to pick up the vehicles, the indictment says.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how criminals use people’s stolen identities,” said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Perpetrators can easily and cheaply buy an endless supply of personal and credit card information. While the company in this case was the direct victim, innocent people were initially accused of theft because their stolen identities were used to commit the fraud.”

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

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Tuesday admitted stealing $106,245 in Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits by fraudulently claiming various medical conditions. 

Charles Adams, 50, of Berkeley, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to theft of government funds.

Adams underwent multiple medical evaluations after he applied for increased disability benefits due to service-connected degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis. In April 2017, he reported difficulty getting out of bed some mornings and an inability to stand for extended lengths of time. A Department of Veterans Affairs examiner noted that Adams walked slowly and with a marked limp. At a November 2017 back examination, Adams demonstrated severe limitations in his range of motion, rotation, and other use of his back. However, soon after the examination and again in March 2018, Adams performed various strenuous exercises with high levels of resistance, including deep squats, leg presses with over 800 pounds of resistance, rope pulldowns, and other high intensity exercises or movements that were inconsistent with the level of back limitations he demonstrated at his examinations, his plea agreement says.

Videos posted to Instagram, under the username @tlf_trainer, show Adams lifting heavy weights and squatting, in late 2017 and March 2018. The videos contradict Defendant’s claims that he was limited in his abilities to lift, squat, bend, stand, walk and sit, his plea agreement says.

Adams filed for Department of Veterans Affairs individual unemployability benefits in February 2018. Included in his application was a statement from a doctor stating that he was very limited in movements including bending, stooping, twisting, lifting more than 25 pounds above shoulder height, kneeling, running, jumping and standing. 

Adams also applied for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in August of 2019 after a January 2017 application was rejected. In his second application, Adams represented that his medical conditions affected his abilities to lift, squat, bend, stand, walk, and sit. He never reported going to Club Fitness for workouts, however. Adams checked into Club Fitness the day before a July 7, 2020 hearing for his second disability application, later on the same day as his hearing and the day after. 

Adams continued to work out at Club Fitness in 2020 and 2021. In June 2021, Defendant attended a medical review for the VA. Investigators watched as Adams walked normally and lifted and carried bags of trash before going to his examination. When he arrived for the examination, he used a cane to walk and did so at a much slower pace.

Adams is scheduled to be sentenced October 25. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. He will also be ordered to repay the money.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon pleaded guilty Monday to three federal felonies and admitted robbing a St. Louis, Missouri 7-Eleven at gunpoint in 2020.

Harvey Cameron, 32, of Ferguson, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig to robbery, possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Cameron admitted that on June 21, 2020, he and Monte Kent drove to the 7-Eleven at 5350 Chippewa Street to rob it. One of the men entered the store and pointed a Zastava AK-47-style rifle at an employee, demanding cash from the register. The pair were caught shortly after the robbery, with the cash and the gun.

Cameron is scheduled to be sentenced October 30. 

Judge Fleissig sentenced Kent, now 35, of Jennings, to 10 ½ years in prison in March of 2022 after he pleaded guilty to robbery and the firearm brandishing charge.

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

ST. LOUIS – A man from Hannibal, Missouri on Monday admitted making a series of illegal pipe bombs in 2022.

Joshua Eugene Rickey, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of manufacture of one or more unregistered destructive devices and one count of  possession of one or more unregistered destructive devices. He admitted making a series of pipe bombs out of sparklers and plastic or metal pipes between July 4, 2022 and Aug. 13, 2022. Rickey admitted detonating one in a burned-out house across from his own home in late July 2022. He also lit one at his grandmother’s house, damaging a fence.

Rickey is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on October 30. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hannibal Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon has been arrested on an indictment alleging he robbed a pizza delivery driver in St. Louis at gunpoint, U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming announced Monday. 

Antione L. Shockley, 25, was indicted in U.S. District Court July 19 on three charges: brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, robbery and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. The indictment alleges that Shockley, a convicted felon, committed the robbery April 13 in St. Louis. 

A motion seeking to have Shockley held in jail until trial says a Domino’s driver was sent to a vacant home in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis and was robbed at gunpoint of two pizzas, hot wings and the insulated bag containing them. Investigators traced the order to Shockley’s email address and traced the phone used to make the order to Shockley and his then-girlfriend.

The detention motion says St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers arrested Shockley June 24 after he fired a handgun into the air in a school zone. After officers arrived and told Shockley to put up his hands, he passed the handgun he was holding to a woman and first pulled a stolen Ruger from his waistband before pulling a long gun from inside his pants. He was arrested after dropping both of the firearms, the motion says. 

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

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.