United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Louisville, Kentucky, man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing more than two kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in a rental vehicle after he was stopped on Interstate 44 in Jasper County, Mo.

Quennel A. Young, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 16 years and eight months in federal prison without parole.

On Feb. 14, 2022, Young was found guilty of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute following a one-day bench trial that was held on Feb. 9, 2022.

Young was arrested on July 26, 2020, when he was pulled over by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 44 in Jasper County after the trooper observed Young commit multiple traffic violations.

The trooper searched Young’s vehicle. When the trooper searched the trunk, he saw the trunk lid liner was not secured tight against the trunk lid sheet metal. He pulled back the corner of the formed liner and found two duct-taped bundles that contained approximately 2.2 pounds of methamphetamine. In a later search of the vehicle, officers found three additional duct-taped bundles of methamphetamine hidden under the center console gear shift cover. All five bundles of methamphetamine weighed a total of approximately 5.59 pounds (2.539 kilograms).

According to court documents, Young has a prior felony conviction for second-degree manslaughter after he and three others attacked the victim, causing the victim to suffer severe head injuries. The victim later succumbed to his injuries and died. Young also has a prior felony conviction for three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, and a felony conviction for attempted possession of a forged instrument.

Young also has two prior misdemeanor convictions for assault in which he struck a woman in the face. In one of the assaults, Young sent the victim a text message threatening to kill her before appearing at the victim’s home and striking her in the face with such force that the victim required stiches to her lip and a root canal on two teeth as they were knocked back.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.