FORT MYERS, F l a . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Shauntavus Berklin (34, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and distributing fentanyl. The court also ordered Berklin to forfeit the firearms he illegally had possessed. Berklin had...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven sentenced Virginia Garcia Moreta (35, Tampa) and Hector Rodriguez Mendez (47, Tampa) to 70 and 63 months in federal prison, respectively, for conspiring to commit money laundering. As part of their sentences, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Four southern Missouri men were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine. Patrick A. Dodson, also known as “Julio,” 42, and Leslie O. Collins, 48, both of West Plains, Mo., Samuel L. Pyatt, also known as “Tippy,”...

ST. LOUIS – A nurse at a St. Louis County, Missouri, hospital pleaded guilty to a federal felony Thursday and admitted fraudulently obtaining fentanyl for her own personal use. Lindsay J. Maupin, 31, of Cape Girardeau, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark to one felony...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Billings, Mo., man who belonged to the Aryan Brotherhood was sentenced in federal court today for methamphetamine trafficking. Jimmy Jack Pinkley, 45, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in federal prison without parole. On Dec. 16, 2021, Pinkley pleaded guilty to one count of...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An Everton, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for leading a conspiracy to distribute nearly 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri. Cheyenne W. Conn, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 21 years in federal prison without parole. On July...

ST. LOUIS -- U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced a man who ran a drug ring in St. Louis to 20 years in prison. James L. Brownridge, 49, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty July 28 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the sentencing of the last of 16 defendants, federal prosecutors concluded prosecution of a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization operating primarily within Franklin and Gulf Counties. The convictions and sentences were announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. “Cooperative and...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Lamar, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing firearms and methamphetamine to distribute. Jerold G. Lake, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 20 years in federal prison without parole. Lake was sentenced as a career offender due...