SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Texas man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for illegally possessing firearms. Tanner Houghton, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on June 14 to 25 years in federal prison without parole. On Oct...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis man who sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to 17 years in prison. On March 6, 2020, Markquis Bryant sold fentanyl to a Florissant man who was found dead early the next morning in his...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – After a week-long trial, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict convicting a California man of conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver controlled substances. Arturo Ledesma, Jr., 33, of Watsonville, Calif., was charged in a superseding indictment on Dec. 10, 2019, with supplying marijuana...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Liberty, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for distributing fentanyl from his apartment near Liberty High School and for illegally possessing a firearm. Daniel I. Ramirez, 22, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 11 years in federal prison without...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Three defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury today for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri after law enforcement officers seized approximately 29 pounds of methamphetamine. Brian E. Hall, 44, of Aurora, Mo., and Jacqueline Aldrete Bojorquez...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two St. Joseph, Mo., men have pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and to illegally possessing firearms. Franklin T. Hicks Jr., also known as “Frankie,” 41, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to participating in a conspiracy to...

WICHITA, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment May 20 charging Alberto Vasquez, 48, of Tucson, Ariz., with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, fentanyl. Ever Quintana-Lopez, 31, of Wichita, was also charged with one count of possession of fentanyl with...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie L. White sentenced a significant dealer of methamphetamine May 19 to nine years in prison. Anne R. Jekel, 42, of St. Louis County, was caught multiple times in possession of methamphetamine and guns. On Nov. 29, 2016, Maryland Heights police officers arrested...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Republic, Mo., man, who led law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase, was sentenced in federal court May 19 for possessing methamphetamine to distribute. Heath E. Yarger, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 14 years in federal prison without parole. On...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie L. White sentenced on May 19 a drug dealer who mailed crystal methamphetamine to St. Louis from Arizona to seven and one-half years in prison. Hosea Simpson, 36, pleaded guilty in February to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Beginning in 2019...