United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ST. LOUIS – United States District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Romando E. Welch, Sr. to 60 months in prison. Welch, a 45-year-old resident of Ferguson, Missouri, pleaded guilty to three counts of being in possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

As part of their criminal investigation of Welch, Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division special agents utilized confidential sources from March 2019 through June 2019 to purchase fentanyl and heroin from Welch.

On July 2, 2019, the DEA and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department executed a federal search warrant at a residence in the 3900 block of Palm Street in St. Louis. As the officers were approaching the residence, Welch exited the residence and was arrested. Welch had a key to the residence, and admitted to the arresting officers that he stored his illegal drugs in an over-the-door shoe holder in a bedroom within the residence. Upon executing the search warrant, the officers recovered fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine from the shoe holder. Welch admitted to having sold heroin and methamphetamine for years, and also admitted to having sold approximately one pound of methamphetamine every 10 days, as well as buying approximately one-half ounce of heroin or fentanyl at a time for resale from his source, and that he had resupplied three times during June.

Welch also consented to the search of a residence in the 3700 block of Cook Avenue in St. Louis, where Welch said he lived with his girlfriend. Officers recovered a .380 pistol in a lunchbox in the bedroom of that residence, along with a sock containing approximately one ounce of heroin.