EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment charging 11 individuals in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine in southern Illinois and across the country. The indictment charges: Rogelio Martinez-Becerra, also known as “Rodrigo” or “Chaparro” (Shorty), 35, and Ricardo...

ST. LOUIS – A Slovakian man was indicted this week on charges that accuse him of running a darknet market that sold drugs and stolen personal information. Investigators have shut down the market. Alan Bill, 30, of Bratislava, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Dec...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a drug-trafficking conspiracy after receiving a delivery of approximately 30 pounds of methamphetamine from California. Saul Fernandez, 29, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Dec. 13, 2023, to one...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Two Sedalia, Mo., residents and two Marshall, Mo., residents were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Chris Kyle Naylor, 44, and Jasmine Dominique Hagan, 26, both of Sedalia, and James Ray Schull, Jr., 38, and Betty Anne Hern...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Denver, Colorado, man has been convicted at trial for transporting fentanyl and methamphetamine through Kansas City, Mo., aboard a bus and for illegally possessing a firearm. Ahmad Rashad Rhodes, 44, was found guilty on Thursday, Dec. 7, of one count of possessing fentanyl with the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Akron, Ohio, man was charged in federal court today with transporting more than 27 kilograms of methamphetamine through Kansas City, Mo., aboard a bus. Rogeric Romone Clark, 39, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., with...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Dixon, Mo., woman has been sentenced in federal court for possessing methamphetamine to distribute. Connie M. Gonzales, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Aug. 31, 2023, to 23 years in federal prison without parole. On Nov. 17, 2022, Gonzales pleaded guilty to...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Lake St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday admitted laundering money for methamphetamine dealers operating in the St. Louis area. Melvin Hayes, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to misprision of a felony. Hayes admitted working on behalf of Demond Bernard McDaniels...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Blue Springs, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Kenneth James Paulson, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 10 years in federal prison without parole. On Nov. 16, 2022, Paulson pleaded...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Carterville, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing methamphetamine to distribute. Cody Goucher, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 15 years and eight months in federal prison without parole. Goucher was sentenced as a career offender due to...