Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon from East St. Louis on Tuesday admitted shooting a homeless man in 2024.

Travion X. Cutler, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Oct. 21, 2024, he was walking around a tent in downtown St. Louis when the man who shared the tent returned from showering at a friend’s house. The victim’s tentmate was inside the tent. Cutler fired a single shot, striking the victim in the abdomen. Police quickly located Cutler, who turned and ran, dropping a .40 caliber handgun after he fell into some bushes. He was then arrested. Cutler is a felon and is thus barred from possessing firearms.

Cutler is scheduled to be sentenced on November 4. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Voss is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime and public safety challenges. As a key component of Operation Take Back America, PSN serves a central role in the Department’s commitment to make our country safe. PSN emphasizes three core principles: rapid federal response to violent crime and criminal offenders; strong, strategic partnerships among law enforcement at all levels; and accountability and deterrence through the prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses and other strategies. These efforts complement and strengthen President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces, ensuring a comprehensive federal response to the most pressing public safety issues facing communities.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon from St. Louis on Tuesday admitted being caught three times with firearms after traffic stops.

Darrion Boyd-Barnes, 29, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. On Sept. 22, 2022, he was stopped by St. Louis police in a vehicle with an expired temporary tag. After officers discovered that he had given them a false name and had an active arrest warrant, they arrested him and found a loaded Glock 29 10mm pistol.

On April 16, 2025, Boyd-Barnes was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for having an improper license plate. St. Louis police officers again learned that Boyd-Barnes had an active arrest warrant and found a loaded Palmetto State Armory Dagger 9mm handgun.

On Nov. 12, 2025, St. Louis police pulled Boyd-Barnes over in a Jeep after he ran three stop signs. When officers asked him to get out of the vehicle, he sped off, eventually stopping at his girlfriend’s house in St. Louis County. Multiple police agencies responded to the scene. Boyd-Barnes refused multiple times to leave the house and then escaped. Police found 29 firearms in the home, including AR-style pistols and rifles, a shotgun, multiple stolen pistols and five pistols that had been illegally converted into fully automatic weapons with a machinegun conversion device.

Boyd-Barnes is scheduled to be sentenced on November 4. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime and public safety challenges. As a key component of Operation Take Back America, PSN serves a central role in the Department’s commitment to make our country safe. PSN emphasizes three core principles: rapid federal response to violent crime and criminal offenders; strong, strategic partnerships among law enforcement at all levels; and accountability and deterrence through the prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses and other strategies. These efforts complement and strengthen President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces, ensuring a comprehensive federal response to the most pressing public safety issues facing communities.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced an Ohio man to 160 months in prison for engaging in sex acts with a Missouri minor.

Andrew Raymond Crum, 33, of Toledo, originally met the girl on an online gaming platform when she was 14 years old, in 2021. Crum began driving to Missouri to have sex with the girl in February of 2024, when she was 16. He also exchanged sexually explicit images and videos with the victim via Snapchat, where he used the name “Sassy Man.”

The FBI was alerted in October of 2024 about Crum’s plans to return to Missouri and located and contacted the victim and her mother.

“Thanks to an anonymous tip to the FBI, we were able to stop Andrew Raymond Crum from continuing to sexually exploit a teenage victim,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Crum believed he would never be caught. He was wrong. Tips from the public are often the key to rescuing victims and identifying offenders. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who prey on children. When they are convicted in federal court, there is no parole.”

Crum pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in April to one count of coercion or enticement of a minor.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards prosecuted the case. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Jefferson County, Missouri on Monday admitted suppling the drugs that killed another man in 2024.

Daryn Joshua Odell Karnes, 21, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of distribution of fentanyl. He admitted driving to a home in Jefferson County on Jan. 5, 2024, and selling $100 worth of capsules containing fentanyl, heroin and xylazine to a couple, including a woman who had previously purchased fentanyl from him. The couple did not have enough money for the drugs and wrapped a $1 bill around paper to make it appear as if it was a wad of currency. The male later overdosed and died of fentanyl, heroin and xylazine intoxication. Under the plea agreement, Karnes agreed that the male would not have died but for the fentanyl. First responders found seven remaining capsules.

The transaction was arranged via Karnes’ “Luh Daryn” account on Facebook, and he later demanded full payment from the male victim. He also told a third party that the victim and his girlfriend would get “hurt” for not paying for the drugs.

Karnes is scheduled to be sentenced on November 17. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohsen Pasha is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – An adult day care provider has been indicted and accused of defrauding Missouri Medicaid out of $1.47 million.

Tony King, 63, was indicted July 22 on five counts of health care fraud. King turned himself in Thursday and appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, where he pleaded not guilty.

The indictment says King operated Agape Love Adult Day Care LLC, holding out the company as a provider in Missouri’s Adult Day Care Waiver (ADCW) program. That program provides for continuous care and supervision of older and disabled adults for up to 10 hours per day, five days a week to provide a community-based alternative to those who might otherwise be placed in a nursing facility. The Missouri Medicaid Program reimburses for ADCW services including planned group activities, food service and transportation.

The indictment says King submitted false claims for reimbursement to Missouri Medicaid for services that were never provided. King falsely claimed that Agape provided 10 hours of care per day when the company only provided half that amount, the indictment says. King also submitted claims for providing day care services to patients that were either not present at Agape or were hospitalized. The indictment says that King submitted a total of $1.47 million in false claims from at least as early as February 2021 through March 2026.

King, formerly of St. Louis County, now lives in Georgia.

Health care fraud is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Restitution is mandatory.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karin Schute is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A woman from Florissant, Missouri on Wednesday admitted stealing $170,000 in Social Security benefits after the death of a relative.

Laneka Holmes, 45, of Florissant, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of theft of government money. She admitted that the death of a relative on May 23, 2017, was not reported to the Social Security Administration, as required. The relative’s Social Security payments were being deposited into an account held jointly with Holmes, and Holmes took those funds from May 2017 until April 2025. Holmes admitted unlawfully receiving a total of $170,574.

At her October 21 sentencing, Holmes faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both prison and a fine. She will also be ordered to repay the money.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolene Taaffe is prosecuting the case. 

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A man who threatened employees of the Social Security Administration twice in 2025 was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in prison.

After his release from prison, Timothy Wells Stevens, 57, will be on supervised release for two years.

On Oct. 1, 2025, Stevens was told in a phone call with an SSA employee in Pennsylvania that there was no record showing that he was due payments. Stevens said that if he did not receive payments, “I’m commin’ gunning for you all.” The employee told Stevens that the SSA takes all threats seriously, and he responded “No, I am going gunnin’ trust me, and I’m going to blow up every (expletive) office around here.”

About 30 minutes later Stevens called again and reached an SSA employee in California. During that call, he said, “Cause I’m telling you now, if I have to sell my place I’ve owned for 17 years and go live under a bridge, I’m hunting every last one of you (expletives) down and I’m gonna blow you up,” his plea agreement says.

Stevens, of Wayne County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to two counts of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.

The Federal Protective Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former Northwoods, Missouri police officer was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for the assault of a handcuffed man in 2023.

Jurors in April found Samuel Davis, 28, guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, one count of witness tampering by way of misleading conduct for making a misleading statement to a police dispatcher and one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation for turning off his body-worn camera.

“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s crime,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division.  “Law enforcement officers are given immense public trust to discharge their vital duties.  We will hold accountable those who violate that trust and abuse their authority.”

“Civil rights crimes by police erode the public’s trust in law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “We will continue to hold law enforcement officers to high standards and protect the civil rights of all people.”

"Samuel Davis flagrantly violated the law he swore to uphold. The victim complied with officers' commands and was already in handcuffs, yet Davis still chose to beat and tase him," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Every law enforcement officer has a duty to enforce the law while safeguarding the constitutional rights and dignity of every person. Davis' actions betrayed that responsibility and undermined the public trust that officers work tirelessly to earn. That is why the FBI remains steadfast in investigating allegations of excessive force and holding those who abuse their authority accountable."

Northwoods police were called to a Walgreens store on the evening of July 4, 2023, about C.G., a man accused of shoplifting and trespassing and someone known to Davis. Davis handcuffed C.G., who was compliant and cooperative, and then placed him in Davis’ police vehicle. Evidence and testimony at the trial showed that instead of taking him to jail, Davis turned off his body worn camera, drove C.G. to an empty field in a desolate area of Kinloch, pepper-sprayed him in the eyes, threw him to the ground and struck him repeatedly in the body and face with his metal baton, breaking his jaw and causing him extreme pain. When Davis spotted a passerby, he shocked the victim with a Taser and threatened to kill him if he returned to Northwoods. He then falsely told his dispatcher that C.G. was not present when he arrived at the Walgreens. When the passerby returned to the scene of the attack, she found C.G., bloodied and crying out for help.

Davis beat C.G. because he wanted to scare him and ensure that he would not return to Northwoods, a sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office says. The victim was smaller and weaker than Davis, was left in an isolated area and had no cell phone or way to call for help after the beating. Davis “hurt him with almost every tool at his disposal,” then lied to a dispatcher, supervisors, investigators and the jury about the attack, Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section said in court Thursday.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug for the Eastern District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – Three men from Texas have been sentenced for stealing tens of thousands of pain pills and other controlled substances from three pharmacies in Missouri and Kansas last year.

Anthony Ray Venwright, 33, and Jonathan Fore, 30, were sentenced Wednesday to 120 months and 87 months in prison, respectively. Erik Dewayne Lyons Jr., 21, was sentenced last week to 46 months in prison. All three were ordered to pay restitution of $62,708.

The three men traveled from the Houston, Texas area to Lee’s Summit, Missouri on July 29, 2025. The next day, Lyons waited in a Toyota RAV4 nearby while Venwright and Fore broke into a pharmacy and stole drugs. They then broke into a pharmacy in Overland Park, Kansas. The following day, they broke into a Maryland Heights pharmacy. Maryland Heights police identified the RAV4 and learned that it was in Arkansas. After the Arkansas State Police stopped the RAV4 and another vehicle, investigators found two trash bags containing the drugs that the men had stolen from the third pharmacy and evidence linking them to all the burglaries.

The men admitted stealing a total of 25,610 doses of pain pills and other controlled substances.

All three men pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substance and entering a pharmacy with the intent to steal controlled substances.

The case was investigated by the Maryland Heights Police Department, the Arkansas State Police, the Clark County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Department, the Lee’s Summit Police Department and the Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County on Wednesday admitted being caught trying to have sexual contact with a Jefferson County 14-year-old in 2025.

Tay’vion K. Like, 25, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted communicating with the teen via Snapchat in July of 2025. Like requested sexual contact with the victim, even after she told him that she was 14. He claimed he was 17. Like then told her that he wanted to come to her house to engage in sexual activity. She told him not to come, and that she would call police. When she discovered that he was outside her house on July 15, 2025, she tried to get him to leave and then told her father. Her father called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies caught Like near the victim’s home.

Like also admitted communicating with other underage girls on Snapchat.

Sentencing is set for October 22. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Memphis on Tuesday admitted prostituting a teen in St. Louis.

Mack Mitchell, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Mitchell admitted meeting the victim on Tag, a social media app, when she was about 14 years old. They corresponded for several years. On Feb. 23, 2024, the victim, who knew Mitchell had recently traveled from Memphis to St. Louis, contacted him and asked her to pick him up from foster care. Within 30 minutes after finding out her location, Mitchell had an Uber pick her up and deliver her to a gas station in south St. Louis. He picked her up and took her to a casino hotel, where an associate took photos of her and posted them online. The victim engaged in commercial sex acts at the casino hotel, gave the money to Mitchell’s associate, who gave the money to Mitchell.

Mitchell’s trial was scheduled to start Wednesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 21. The charge carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

The St. Louis County Police Department Special Investigations Unit and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dianna Edwards and Michael Hayes are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a Maplewood sex offender to 15 years in prison after he was caught again with child sexual abuse material.

Judge Divine also sentenced Michael R. Throm, now 46, to an additional 18 months for violating his supervised release from a prior case. Throm was convicted of possession and receipt of child pornography in 2014 and sentenced to 65 months in prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. On June 9, 2025, Throm’s probation officer visited his apartment and spotted two unauthorized smart phones. Both phones contained child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and evidence that Throm tried to text CSAM to his downstairs neighbor, another sex offender on supervised release.

Throm pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receipt of child pornography.

The U.S. Probation Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Monday sentenced a man caught in an abandoned hospital with a machete and two firearms to 46 months in prison.

Arlin Alexis Bustillo, 34, pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court to one count of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a false permanent resident card. He admitted being caught on July 31, 2025, by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers in St. Alexius Hospital and arrested for trespassing. He had a large machete on the left side of his waistband and a stolen pistol on the right side. In a backpack, officers found a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle. He also had a fraudulent Social Security card and permanent resident card. Bustillo is a native of Honduras and will be deported when he completes his sentence.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Phillip Voss and Ricardo Dixon prosecuted the case. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime and public safety challenges. As a key component of Operation Take Back America, PSN serves a central role in the Department’s commitment to make our country safe. PSN emphasizes three core principles: rapid federal response to violent crime and criminal offenders; strong, strategic partnerships among law enforcement at all levels; and accountability and deterrence through the prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses and other strategies. These efforts complement and strengthen President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces, ensuring a comprehensive federal response to the most pressing public safety issues facing communities.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a felon to life in prison for arranging the 2011 murder of a St. Louis County man to get a share of an insurance payout.

Judge Fleissig ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the 226-month federal prison sentence Michael Grady is already serving for aiding a large-scale, violent drug conspiracy by trying to determine who was cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

Grady, now 71, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March of one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Evidence and testimony at the trial showed that Grady hatched the plot against Charles Harris III to aid Harris’ financially struggling fiancée, Victoria Rena Williams.

In 2010, Grady prompted Williams to get a $250,000 accidental death policy on Harris, evidence and testimony showed. She did so without Harris’ knowledge, after confirming that it would pay out if he was killed during a robbery. Williams then arranged a meeting between Harris, who worked for an alarm company but sold suits out of his home on the side, and the shooter or shooters, who posed as suit customers.  On Oct. 5, 2011, Harris was fatally shot in his home on Langford Drive in St. Louis County. After a dispute with the insurance company, Williams received $224,444 and then obtained a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. Williams also received $175,762 from another insurance policy.

The shooter or shooters have not been identified, according to trial testimony.

“Charles Harris was a hardworking man. He was a good man,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj, one of the prosecutors who worked on the case, in court Wednesday. “Mr. Grady is the polar opposite.”

Williams, 68, pleaded guilty to the same charges that Grady was convicted of and was sentenced in March to 225 months in prison.

"This is not the first time the FBI has investigated Michael Grady. He is currently serving a 19-year federal prison sentence for providing long-term support to some of the St. Louis area's most prolific and violent drug traffickers," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "But a prison sentence was never going to shield him from accountability. When evidence of his involvement in this murder surfaced, the FBI and St. Louis County Police remained steadfast in our commitment to securing justice for the victim and ensuring Grady answered for this crime."

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen, Nino Przulj and Donald Boyce prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a woman who defrauded Missouri Medicaid with false home health care claims to 15 months in prison.

Camille S. Childress, 41, was also ordered to repay $174,496 to Missouri Medicaid. Childress submitted fraudulent documents to enroll her home health care company, Inspiring Angels LLC, with Missouri Medicaid. The paperwork falsely claimed that someone else owned the company. Childress was trying to conceal her ownership due to a 2012 criminal conviction that would have disqualified her from participating.

Childress then submitted fraudulent claims to Missouri Medicaid seeking reimbursement for home healthcare services that were never provided. On numerous occasions, clients were in the hospital and could not have received any health care services at home. On other occasions, Childress submitted claims when the company did not have any timesheet records or documentation of the services. Missouri Medicaid paid $174,496 for claims submitted in 2021 and 2022.

“Health care providers who try to enrich themselves by submitting false claims to Missouri Medicaid not only drain taxpayer funds but also undermine the integrity of safety net programs designed to provide services to patients who genuinely need them,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda T. Hanley of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Today’s sentencing shows the unwavering commitment of HHS OIG and our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of fraud. We are proud of our work to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes that put both patients and public resources at risk.”

Childress pleaded guilty in March to one count of health care fraud.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Tuesday sentenced a man who embezzled just over $1 million from a St. Louis County restaurant to 21 months in prison.
    
Judge Sippel also ordered Matthew Braasch, 48, to repay the money.

Braasch pleaded guilty in April to one count of wire fraud. He admitted that while a manager of a restaurant in Grantwood Village, in St. Louis County, Missouri, he misused the company credit card to make personal purchases. Braasch was supposed to only use the company credit card for food and to pay state liquor and other taxes. Instead, Braasch spent $81,965 at Target, $29,801 at the Vineyard Vines clothing store, $39,634 at Amazon and over $10,000 on local hotel stays for an acquaintance. Due to the embezzlement, the restaurant lacked money to buy food and pay state taxes. During a state investigation, Braasch posed as the restaurant’s owner to conceal his crime, his plea says.

Braasch began stealing to enrich himself during the pandemic, when many restaurants struggled and closed, a sentencing memo filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman says.

In court, Wiseman said Braasch was the gatekeeper of the restaurant’s funds, and no money would have been stolen without him “allowing it to happen.” Braasch stole from the restaurant and then pretended to be the owner and took out loans “all to conceal his theft,” Wiseman said.

“Matthew Braasch’s greed didn’t just betray the trust placed in him, it nearly cost an iconic restaurant its future. By stealing more than $1 million, he inflicted a financial blow that almost put the business under,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Strong financial controls are key to prevent the opportunity to embezzle. When the same employee is responsible for both authorizing and reconciling payments, it creates an opportunity to cook the books. Separating those responsibilities is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent fraud.”

The FBI, with assistance from the Missouri Department of Revenue, Criminal Tax Investigation Bureau, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis felon involved in a drug and money laundering conspiracy has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Monday.

From at least 2016 to 2021, Derek Rockette, 53, and others engaged in a drug trafficking conspiracy, including the sale of cocaine, according to his plea agreement. Rockette laundered drug proceeds from at least 2017 to 2021 but lost more than $1.5 million of the proceeds gambling. He began repaying the money in installments to two money laundering organizations working on behalf of Rockette’s drug source. In May 2018, he paid one man $200,000. In July of 2018, he paid the man $158,720, but the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Illinois State Police intercepted the cash on its way to Chicago. On Aug. 2, 2018, Rockette paid $59,114, which was quickly deposited in a bank and transferred to Mexico. In late August, Rockette gave a DEA confidential source $100,000 to transfer to Chicago. Investigators tracked it to a Chinese money laundering group and seized $222,300. In October 2018, Rockette gave $59,800 to a confidential source working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations).

Money received by the Chinese money laundering group was deposited into an account used to pay off credit card charges for airline tickets sold in China in a trade-based money laundering scheme. The Mexican based-money laundering group deposited cash via ATMs into an account and then quickly transferred the money to Mexico.

Rockette was caught with a firearm after fleeing from St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers and the DEA on March 25, 2019. He is a felon, having pleaded guilty in 2008 to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana. On March 23, 2021, he was caught by St. Louis with $2,000 cash, 236 grams of cocaine, 3 grams of fentanyl, and 12 grams of a substance containing heroin, fentanyl and cocaine during a traffic stop.

Rockette pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count each of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to launder money and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Illinois State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Delworth prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon caught twice with guns and drugs to 10 years in prison.

Melvin Nelson, 42, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty in April to one count each of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Sept. 4, 2024, the Florissant Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service were serving an arrest warrant at his home in the 2200 block of Gadbury Drive and found a handgun, $38,892 in cash and meth in pill form weighing at least 219 grams in his bedroom. The basement contained scales, empty pill capsules and other drug paraphernalia, and an AR-style pistol and body armor in the garage. Bags containing cocaine and fentanyl were in the backyard.

On August 26, 2025, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives served arrest and search warrants at Nelson's home and found a rifle, a pistol, at least 500 grams of a fentanyl mixture and drug paraphernalia.

The case was investigated by the Florissant Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Dixon prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A Dexter, Missouri man on Monday admitted trying to arrange for the murder of his estranged wife.

Matthew R. Alsup, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to a murder-for-hire charge. He admitted traveling to Mississippi on two occasions in early August of 2025 to try to recruit a former tenant of the RV park that he owned to kill his wife. The FBI learned of the plot, and an undercover police officer met with Alsup on August 14. Alsup told the undercover officer that he wanted his wife killed because she planned to file for divorce. He showed the officer a map of the property where his wife was living in Ohio, recommended the best way to approach the house to avoid detection, and provided a .22 Magnum rifle to use and a $1,720 advance. Alsup agreed to pay a total of $5,000 for the murder of his wife and “a couple extra grand” to kill his mother-in-law if she was also there.

Alsup is scheduled to be sentenced on October 19. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine.

The FBI and the Poplar Bluff Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Shelton prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – The owner of a home healthcare company was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday for defrauding the Missouri Medicaid Program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs out of $210,000.

U.S. District Judge Maria A. Lanahan also ordered Natavia Boyd-Wells, 42, to repay the money.

While owner of Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, Boyd-Wells submitted hundreds of fraudulent reimbursement claims to the Missouri Medicaid Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Care Network. Missouri Medicaid and the VA pay for home healthcare services so patients can remain in their homes instead of hospitals and nursing homes.

Boyd-Wells submitted claims for services on dates when the veterans were in the hospital and could not have received home services. She also submitted claims knowing services were not provided and that she did not have any documentation of the services.

In February of 2022, Missouri Medicaid officials conducting an audit requested documentation of the services that Boyd-Wells claimed were provided to a Medicaid patient. No documentation existed so Boyd-Wells caused fraudulent documentation to be submitted to Medicaid in response to their request.

Boyd-Wells pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man who was once on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for child sex trafficking has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Monday.

Donald Eugene Fields II, 62, provided sexual access to a child in exchange for cash and other items of value from a friend and co-defendant, Theodore “Ted” John Sartori Sr., beginning when the victim was 14 years old. From the winter of 2013 through the summer of 2016, Sartori engaged in illegal sexual activity with the minor and provided Fields cash, a car, a motorcycle, Christmas presents and vacations. In the summer of 2016, Sartori financed a vacation to Florida and drove the victim there with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with her. Fields told the minor to engage in sexual activity with Satori.

U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp told Fields during Thursday’s sentencing hearing that his crimes “warranted extreme punishment.”

Fields was indicted on federal charges on Dec. 7, 2022, after he failed to appear in Franklin County Circuit Court on pending charges there. He was arrested on Jan. 26, 2025, after a traffic stop by police in Lady Lake, Florida, when officers learned that he was on the Most Wanted list. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in April to one count of child sex trafficking.

"Donald Fields II believed he could outrun justice by fleeing to Florida after committing reprehensible crimes against a child in Missouri. He was wrong," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Today's sentence holds Fields accountable for the lifelong trauma he inflicted on his young victim. I commend the remarkable courage of the victim, whose willingness to come forward made justice possible, and the unwavering dedication of FBI investigators and our law enforcement partners — especially the Lady Lake Police Department."

Sartori, now 65, is serving a 10-year prison term. He pleaded guilty in August of 2024 to one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The case was investigated jointly by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, with assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards prosecuted the case. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a gang leader and felon to 200 months consecutive in prison for illegally selling guns to an undercover agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives before setting up the agent’s robbery.

Joseph Burchett, 26, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in March to one count of aiding and abetting firearms trafficking, one count of robbery of an undercover federal agent and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to that plea agreement and a sentencing memo filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj, Burchett sold a Glock to the agent on April 30, 2024. The agent was accompanied by Burchett’s co-defendant, Cryland Robinson, who was armed with an AR-style rifle. Burchett obtained the gun from fellow gang member Terrence Robinson. The agent had already bought three guns and methamphetamine from Cryland Robinson. At that meeting, Burchett said he had a fully automatic Glock for sale. Burchett then set up sales and used teenagers to conduct the transactions.

On May 14, Burchett arranged for the sale of a fully automatic Glock 19 equipped with a drum magazine. 

Burchett next arranged for the sale of another fully automatic pistol and fentanyl, while secretly planning to rob the agent. On August 1, co-defendant Todd Lumpkins got into the back seat of the agent’s car. The agent, reluctant to hand over money without seeing the firearm, gave about half of the promised $1,100 to Lumpkins. Burchett and the agent were on the phone during the transaction. Lumpkins left the agent’s car and retrieved the pistol, while Burchett told the agent, “If I was you, I would have just gave it to him.” Lumpkins returned, opened the car door while brandishing the gun and stole the rest of the cash from the agent. That agent, in a letter to Judge Ross, wrote, “When Burchett said that to me over the phone, I thought there was a significant chance I was about to lose my life.” Burchett and his co-conspirators then fled from police.

“Joseph Burchett illegally sold fully automatic weapons and put society at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “When he set up the robbery of an undercover ATF agent, he risked the life of someone who was doing nothing more than trying to protect the rest of us. This sentence should send a message that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated.”

"This job asks a lot of the people who do it," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Bernard "Butch" Hansen of the Kansas City Field Division. "These defendants showed they were willing to use violence to advance their criminal enterprise, even against a federal undercover agent. I am grateful our undercover agent walked away safely from a situation that could have ended very differently. ATF agents accept extraordinary risks to take violent offenders and illegal firearms off our streets, and today's sentencing ensures everyone who played a role in this case has been held accountable."

Burchett was one of four men to plead guilty in the case. Cryland Robinson, 36, of St. Louis, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Todd Lumpkins, 20, of St. Louis, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Terrence Robinson, 35, of St. Louis, was sentenced to 46 months.

The case was investigated by the ATF. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj prosecuted the case. 

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday sentenced a Farmington, Missouri man to 10 years in prison for supplying fentanyl to a friend shortly before the man’s overdose death.

Judge Limbaugh also ordered James B. Link’s sentence to run consecutive to any sentence he receives for 10 pending cases in state court.

On June 14, 2025, Link exchanged messages with the victim about fentanyl pills. Link’s vehicle was spotted leaving the victim’s home shortly before the death. The next day, investigators interviewed Link, who admitted delivering blue and yellow pills containing fentanyl to the victim shortly before he died. Investigators found those same blue and yellow pills in Link’s house.

Link, now 32, pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of distribution of fentanyl.

The Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office, the Mineral Area Drug Task Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Shelton prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens on Tuesday sentenced a man who was involved in a drug conspiracy that caused one fatal and one nonfatal overdose to 200 months in prison.

Haeder Jameel, 23, was also ordered to pay $51,005 in restitution to the parents of the teen who died.

Jameel was one of three men charged in the case. He and Zaki Salman, 23, pleaded guilty to one of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises. Jameel also pleaded guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute MDMA and fentanyl. Salman pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of fentanyl with a serious bodily injury resulting.

Aeman Ali, 23, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the maintaining of a drug-involved premises.

According to the plea agreements, Salman rented a home in the 4400 block of Ohio Street in St. Louis that was used for selling drugs from August 20, 2022, through Dec. 14, 2022. Salman and Jameel bought drugs in California. Salman advertised the drugs on social media and would “direct” the sale of the drugs. The men sold real Percocet pain pills and fake pills that contained fentanyl. When Salman was not at the home, Jameel or Ali would handle the transactions.

Salman delivered drugs to a minor on Sept. 18, 2022, who thought she was buying Percocet. The minor overdosed but was saved by multiple doses of Narcan. Salman and Jameel also admitted that the fentanyl purchased by a 16-year-old male at the Ohio Street residence on Nov. 19, 2022, resulted in his overdose death. Before his death, the teen exchanged messages with the conspirators regarding the purchase of Xanax or Percocet.

When law enforcement officers conducted a court-approved search of the home on Dec. 14, 2022, they found cocaine, MDMA, fentanyl, amphetamine and prescription pills. Jameel answered the door with a loaded .45-caliber handgun that he left on the kitchen table when he ran for the back door.

The 16-year-old victim was remembered by his mother at Tuesday’s hearing for his many good qualities, including his humility and intelligence. “He lived his life as if every person mattered,” she said.

“One decision, made by two different minors, resulted in a life cut short and another impaired by overdose,” Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Field Division Special Agent in Charge Steven Hofer said. “Now, families are left to mourn the consequences of those decisions, while Haeder Jameel faces years in federal prison. This is a tragic and grim reminder of the potentially deadly impact of fentanyl. Don’t trust your eyes to determine if a pill is an actual prescription medication or counterfeit. Prescription pills should only be purchased through a licensed pharmacist; anything less puts your life in jeopardy.”

“Today’s sentencing is a warning that those who endanger our communities and tear families apart by distributing fentanyl and other dangerous drugs—especially to vulnerable individuals—will be held accountable,” said Homeland Security Investigations St. Louis Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gregory Paris. “Homeland Security Investigations remains vigilant and steadfast in working with our law enforcement partners to disrupt drug trafficking networks and protect the St. Louis area from the devastating impact of opioid abuse.”

Salman, of Hazelwood, was sentenced June 9 to 20 years in prison and was ordered to pay the same amount of restitution. Ali, of St. Louis, is scheduled to be sentenced on July 28.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Florissant Police Department, the O’Fallon, Missouri Police Department and the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A Cape Girardeau County man who led investigators to two pounds of methamphetamine in 2025 on Tuesday admitted possessing and selling the drug.

Billy R. Davis, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. As part of his plea, he admitted that during a court-approved search of his home on Feb. 27, 2025, investigators found 43 baggies of meth weighing about 104.6 grams, drug paraphernalia, two rifles and two shotguns. Davis told investigators that he used about 1.5 grams of meth per week and had been selling it to Russell S. Jackman for the last 12 to 18 months. He then led investigators to his next delivery – 952 grams of meth.

Investigators were alerted to Davis’ home when someone working on behalf of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office tried to buy two ounces of meth from Jackman at Jackman’s home. Jackman did not have the meth on hand and traveled to Davis’ nearby home to resupply.

Davis is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15. The charge is punishable by 10 years to life in prison.

Jackman, 66, pleaded guilty in September to distribution of methamphetamine and is currently serving a 90-month prison sentence.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office and the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a felon from Palmyra, Missouri who was caught with a firearm, methamphetamine and other drugs to 11 years in prison.

On Oct. 4, 2022, the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force (NEMO) learned that John R. Breault would be traveling to a home in La Belle, Missouri to sell meth. NEMO and Lewis County Sheriff’s deputies watched Breault as he spent time at the house and then went to a bank. They also watched as a known drug user withdrew money from an ATM and then got back into Breault’s vehicle. Investigators stopped the vehicle after it dropped off the drug user at his home. Breault unsuccessfully tried to get his driver to flee, attacking and kicking a NEMO special agent and then resisting arrest after he was removed from the vehicle. Investigators found meth, 282 morphine tablets and marijuana on Breault. They found a 9mm handgun, $746 in cash, drug paraphernalia, and a grocery bag containing about 381 grams of meth in the vehicle.

Breault, now 40, pleaded guilty in April to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – An Alabama man on Thursday admitted involvement in the burglary of a Kennett, Missouri pharmacy last year and the theft of 16,800 pills.

Cornelius Cardez Bray, 31, of Birmingham, pleaded guilty to one count of intent to steal a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to distribute hydrocodone. He admitted acting as the driver for David Jerome Evans, who broke into a pharmacy on March 13, 2025. A police officer responding to an alarm spotted a car with Tennessee license plates heading out of town and recalled that a few days earlier someone in a passenger car with Tennessee plates had been seen taking pictures of another pharmacy in town. The officer attempted to stop Bray but he sped away, eventually crashing the vehicle. Evans was arrested. Bray fled but was arrested later.

Officers found numerous pill bottles in the wreckage, as well as a large blue crowbar, a black face mask and Bray’s wallet and cell phone. The men stole 16,800 pills, including 7,500 hydrocodone pills and 7,500 pills containing benzodiazepine drugs.

Evans, now 31, of Birmingham, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 78 months in prison.

Bray is scheduled to be sentenced on October 1.

The Kennett Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – The United States Attorneys and United States Marshals for the Southern District of Illinois and Eastern District of Missouri announced today the results of a regional public safety initiative led by the U.S. Marshals Service and its task force law enforcement partners.

The coordinated effort was executed over the month of June and was designed to promote safe communities in advance of our country’s 250th Birthday.

Since June 1, the U.S. Marshals Service and task force members have arrested 224 fugitives in both Missouri and Illinois during Operation Patriot Shield, clearing 290 outstanding felony arrest warrants. Sixteen of those arrested in Illinois and six in Missouri have been linked to gangs. About 31% of those warrants were for narcotics charges, 28% for weapons offenses and at least 20% for violent crimes including homicide. Deputy U.S. Marshals also seized fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamines, marijuana and 32 firearms.

Deputy Marshals also located three missing children.

“This work highlights the mission and accomplishments of the men and women of the United States Marshals Service and the great work in conjunction with our state and local partners through our Task Force Officer Program,” said U.S. Marshal Steven Lewis of the Eastern District of Missouri. “While our deputies are on the streets daily serving high risk warrants and taking truly dangerous criminals off the streets, the ability to perform operations such as Patriot Shield show the tenacity and capabilities of the United States Marshals Service. We are proud to contribute to a safer America.

“Operation Patriot Shield represented an intensive effort by the U.S. Marshals Service in the apprehension of the most violent offenders in the St. Louis Metro Area and the Southern District of Illinois,” said Southern District of Illinois U.S. Marshal David C. Davis. “The task force concentrated on arresting the most egregious defendants who were wanted for homicide, drug offenses, weapons offenses, and other violent crimes. The USMS was successful in this operation because of our dedicated task force partners who participated in this operation, and we are appreciative for their enduring support. We believe it is essential that U.S. Marshals Service continue to combine the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate and apprehend the most dangerous fugitives to reduce violent crime in our communities.”

“Our goal with Operation Patriot Shield is to try to head off the typical summer surge in violent crime,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus of the Eastern District of Missouri. “The U.S. Marshals Service arrested fugitives with active warrants in state and federal court involving crimes ranging from criminal sexual assault to drug trafficking to murder. These are folks who have been actively evading capture, some through the use of an alias and others by fleeing the jurisdiction where they were charged. We have also sought and obtained federal indictments against nearly three dozen people during that period.”

Since June 3, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri has indicted 35 people for violent crimes, drug crimes and/or gun crimes. Most are alleged to have been found with drugs, guns or both during the investigation and some are felons previously convicted of violent crimes.

In June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois has indicted 11 defendants for violent crimes, including crimes involving firearms, assault, drugs, and child sexual exploitation.

“Those indictments represent just a snapshot of the work we do every day to try and keep the St. Louis area safe,” U.S. Attorney Albus said. “And those efforts aren’t stopping. We will continue to aggressively prosecute violent crime, and we have more anticrime efforts in the works.”

“Operation Patriot Shield is about more than arrests. It is about reclaiming safe communities — freedom from killers, shooters, sex offenders, and drug dealers — so Americans can enjoy the way of life envisioned by our Founders as we celebrate the blessings of liberty on America’s 250th anniversary,” said Southern Illinois U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.

Some of these cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

Some are also part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF St. Louis comprises agents and officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Untied States Marshal Service (USMS); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

ST. LOUIS – Jurors on Wednesday convicted the former owner of a St. Louis tax preparation business of 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns.

Latasha L. Frison, 39, owned a tax preparation business in downtown St. Louis under various names including Taxed Rite. She lived in Cahokia at the time and now lives in Texas. Evidence and testimony at the trial, which started Monday, showed that Frison falsified information on more than a dozen tax returns of six taxpayers for tax years between 2020 and 2023, triggering hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds to which they were not entitled.

The investigation was triggered by red flags on hundreds of individual income tax returns that Frison prepared during that period, evidence showed. Returns prepared by Frison included an unusually high percentage of refunds, Schedule Cs (which are used to report an individual taxpayer’s yearly profit or loss from operating a small business) , COVID-19 family and sick leave credits and federal fuel tax credits, evidence and testimony showed. Evidence showed that between 2021 and 2024, Frison filed more than 680 individual income tax returns, all but two of which claimed a refund. In one of those years, the average refund amount for tax returns filed by Frison exceeded $14,000, while the national and state averages in Missouri and Illinois were around $3,400.

Numerous Frison clients testified that, unbeknownst to them at the time, returns filed by her on their behalf contained false information, including false income figures for small businesses that didn’t exist.

Frison is scheduled to be sentenced on September 30. Each count carries a potential penalty of up to three years in prison. Frison also testified during the trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf said in court after the verdict was announced that the jury’s verdict suggests that she committed perjury during that testimony and could face a longer penalty due to that. She was taken into custody after the hearing.

The case was investigated by IRS - Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Ladendorf and Jonathan Clow are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former building inspector with the City of St. Louis on Tuesday admitted steering $1.64 million meant for the repair of decrepit buildings in St. Louis to himself and relatives.

Adebanjo “Banjo” Popoola, 57, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud. Popoola was a building division inspector with the City of St. Louis at the time and was responsible for managing important aspects of two programs designed to help stabilize and rehabilitate city properties, Stable Communities STL and Prop NS. Stable Communities STL was funded through federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and intended for privately-owned properties. Prop NS was intended for residential properties owned by the City’s Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) and was funded through City issued general obligation bonds. Popoola was primarily responsible for identifying properties for rehab or stabilization; developing the scope of work; seeking, reviewing and awarding bids; inspecting the work that had purportedly been completed on each property and then certifying that the work had been completed so funds could be disbursed to the contractors.

On Tuesday, he admitted having his sister, a Texas resident who had never visited St. Louis, incorporate Farst Construction LLC, in Missouri in October of 2022. His future wife set up a different company in February of 2021, Premier Finish Contractors LLC.

From about June 12, 2023, through Nov. 22, 2024, Popoola caused Farst to be awarded $1.4 million in construction contracts as part of the City’s Stable Communities STL program. From about Feb. 22, 2023, through March 8, 2024, Popoola steered $339,500 in Prop NS contracts to Farst. From Oct. 9, 2023, through May 7, 2024, Popoola steered about $1.3 million from the Stable Communities STL program and about $853,100 from the Prop NS program to Premier. Of the $7.19 million ARPA funds disbursed through the Stable Communities STL program, Farst received $1.79 million and Premier received $1.53 million, or 42% of the total funds disbursed.

Private building owners and representatives of the LRA reported that on multiple projects, Farst and Premier failed to perform the rehabilitation and stabilization work for which the companies were paid but Popoola falsely certified that the work had been performed completely and properly.

After paying subcontractors for purported work on the stabilization projects, Popoola, his sister and wife shared in and personally used about $1.64 million. Popoola and his wife had joint bank accounts where the city funds were deposited and shared. He had the same arrangement with his sister. Popoola admitted using Prop NS and Stable Communities STL funds for residential mortgage payments, multiple vehicle purchases and repairs, travel expenses, his September 2023 Hawaii wedding, casino gambling, and other dining and entertainment expenses.

Popoola also admitted concealing his connection to the companies on city Employee Secondary Employment Questionnaires in 2022 and 2023. Popoola falsely stated that he had no personal interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract with the City of St. Louis and he also falsely represented that he had no interest in any business. His sister and wife falsely certified on contract documents that “No officer, employee, or member of the governing body of the City of St. Louis, Missouri who exercises any functions or responsibilities in connection with the carrying out of the Project to which this Contract pertains shall have any private interest, direct or indirect, in this contract.”

Popoola is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6. Wire fraud carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and fine. He will also be ordered to repay the money.

The FBI investigated the case, with substantial cooperation from the City of St. Louis Comptroller’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a felon who fatally shot someone in a barbershop in 2023 to 125 months in prison.

Nolan Ryan Thomas, now 34, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Nov. 10, 2023, St. Louis County police were called to a barbershop in the 11600 block of West Florissant Avenue, where a patron had been shot in the leg. Police found Thomas hiding in a nearby wooded area, with suspected narcotics and near a handgun. The victim later died of his injury. While in jail, Thomas admitted shooting the victim but said he did so in self-defense. Thomas is a felon and is thus barred from possessing a firearm.

Judge Schelp ordered Thomas’ sentence to run consecutive to any sentence he receives for pending charges in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced two California siblings to decades in prison for supplying dozens of kilograms of methamphetamine and other drugs to a criminal enterprise in southeast Missouri.

Judge Limbaugh sentenced Lorenzo A. Marquez, 32, to 360 months in prison and Adam A. Marquez, 28, to 204 months in prison. Jurors at the trial of both men in March found that they had supplied at least 500g or more of meth, 400g or more of fentanyl and 500g or more of cocaine to co-conspirators in Missouri. Jurors convicted each man of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Evidence and testimony during the trial showed that the Marquez brothers were the California-based suppliers of illegal drugs that were shipped, driven or smuggled via checked baggage on commercial airlines to Missouri. In Nashville, officers seized 2,973 fentanyl pills and 391 MDMA pills. Three drug couriers were intercepted in Detroit on their way to Southeast Missouri with about 60 pounds of meth and almost three pounds of cocaine. In Perry County, Missouri, investigators found about 20 pounds of meth, 4.5 pounds of cocaine, and 315 grams of fentanyl in a suitcase. The couriers didn’t just take three flights, they took hundreds, a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton says. The memo says the Marquez brothers are likely the most prolific drug suppliers ever prosecuted in the history of the Southeastern Division of the Eastern District of Missouri.

The Marquez brothers were indicted along with six others on July 11, 2023. All others pleaded guilty. Javontrey L. Wiley, 25, who admitted providing security for the conspiracy leaders, drugs and cash; managed lower-level participants and personally engaged in drug trafficking, was sentenced to 144 months. Oluwasegun Odumuyiwa, 52, who was also a California-based supplier, was sentenced to 76 months in prison.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office, the Perry County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Department of Public Safety, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and the Cape Girardeau Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chris Shelton and Paul Hahn are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Thursday sentenced a Missouri woman who aided scammers by acting as a money mule to three years of probation and ordered her to repay $1.97 million to victims.

Victims of the scam were contacted by phone or text and told that they had won a lottery but needed to prepay “taxes” and “fees” to “intermediates” and “merchant bankers.” If victims didn’t have enough liquid assets to pay the taxes and fees, conspirators told them to obtain reverse mortgages and home equity loans. Sharon Dolisi, 79, moved more than $1.9 million in proceeds of the fraud through her accounts. She deposited cashier’s checks and personal checks from 28 victims into her personal bank accounts from about April 21, 2023, to June 11, 2025. Less than a week after her first deposit, one bank closed her account. On Oct. 28, 2024, Dolisi lied when she told law enforcement officials that she was not receiving money from or sending money to other people. Four days later, in response to an inquiry by bank representatives about three large cash withdrawals totaling $64,500, Dolisi falsely claimed that she buys and sells gold. On June 27, 2025, Dolisi told a bank representative that she immediately needed $54,000 in cash to buy gold and collectibles.

Dolisi supplied debit cards to co-conspirators in Jamaica, who used those debit cards to withdraw victims’ money.

Dolisi, of Phelps County near St. James, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

“Sharon Dolisi engaged in a scheme where she accepted and transmitted money that was provided by vulnerable elderly victims under false pretenses,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Aaron McCullough with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (OIG). “As a result of this scheme, many elderly victims lost their entire life savings.  HUD OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office to diligently pursue and hold accountable those who take advantage of vulnerable members of our communities.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is charged with defending the nation’s mail system from illegal use.  With the collaborative efforts of our federal and local law enforcement partners, Postal Inspectors investigate fraudsters who utilize the U.S. Mail to perpetuate financial schemes to defraud others in order to enrich themselves.  Postal Inspectors seek justice for victims, including those most vulnerable,” said Inspector in Charge, Nicholas Bucciarelli, who leads the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Domicile Office.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man who was indicted nearly six years ago and accused of a $28 million fraud scheme involving apartment complexes in Missouri and Oklahoma was extradited from Israel Thursday.

Michael Fein, now 47, was indicted Aug. 20, 2020, on one count of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud. The indictment accuses Fein of routinely providing false information on loan applications to obtain financing and refinance loans on projects for the company he co-owned, T.E.H. Management and its affiliates.

U.S. authorities were able to locate Fein in Israel and submitted a request for his extradition. On May 14, Minister of Heritage Amichar Eliyahu – acting by designation in place of the Minister of Justice – approved the extradition of Fein to the United States to stand trial. He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport Thursday morning and was then flown to St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He is expected to make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday.

“I’m very pleased that Michael Fein will be returned to St. Louis to face trial on the accusations that he fraudulently obtained millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus said.

“This case reflects the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General’s (FHFA-OIG) steadfast commitment to investigating and bringing to justice those who defraud Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the financial institutions engaged in the housing mortgage market. We are thankful to HUD OIG and the FBI for their partnership in this investigation, and to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and the U.S. Marshal’s Service for their extraordinary efforts in securing the extradition of the defendant,” said Special Agent in Charge Korey Brinkman, Central Region, FHFA-OIG.

“No one is above the law,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Machelle Jindra with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General. “Our office will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners to investigate those who threaten the integrity of FHA mortgage programs and hold them accountable for their actions.”

“Michael Fein may have believed that leaving the United States would place him beyond the reach of law enforcement after allegedly swindling millions of dollars from multiple banks," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Bringing Fein back to face justice required years of coordinated effort. This case sends a clear message: no matter where a fugitive runs, the FBI and its partners will relentlessly pursue those who commit serious crimes and attempt to evade accountability."

The indictment says Fein was an owner and vice president of T.E.H. Management, and an owner and manager of T.E.H.-affiliated companies, all of which owned and operated multi-family apartment complexes throughout the United States.  Fein was responsible for the day-to-day operations of T.E.H. and the affiliates.  T.E.H. and its affiliates owned and operated the 168-unit Pinnacle Ridge apartment complex in St. Louis County, the 304-unit Green Village Townhomes apartment complex in Kansas City, Missouri and the 260-unit Ivy Place Apartments complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The indictment alleges that from 2016-2019, Fein falsely inflated the number of tenants at Pinnacle Ridge and other complexes and submitted false budget and income information for Pinnacle Ridge to obtain a $2.8 million loan to purchase the complex.

In 2016 and 2017, Fein submitted false information to refinance Green Village, inflating rental income as well as the occupancy of the complex from 50% to 88.49%, the indictment says. After the $12.5 million loan closed and the outstanding loan balance was paid off, a T.E.H. affiliate received $6 million, the indictment says.

In 2017, Fein submitted a false application to refinance a loan for Ivy Place, inflating the occupancy of the complex from 66.5% to 96.54% and inflating the income statement, the indictment says. After the $7.7 million loan closed, a T.E.H. affiliate received $977,754, it says.

In 2019, Fein attempted to purchase the 208-unit Hanley Crossings apartment complex in St. Louis County by submitting fraudulent loan documents, including a falsely inflated summary of real estate purportedly owned by T.E.H. and affiliates, the indictment says. The $5.2 million application falsely inflated the occupancy rates of twenty-six of the listed multi-family apartment complexes by approximately 18% each, the indictment says. The loan was not approved.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $23 million in proceeds linked to the alleged scheme.

Charges set forth in the indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

During March 2020, as a result of substantial tenant complaints concerning substandard living conditions in T.E.H. apartment complexes, the federal government suspended taxpayer-subsidized housing contracts and funding to T.E.H. affiliates in the St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri areas.  As many of the residents living in T.E.H. apartment complexes were members of low-income households that were receiving federal housing assistance, the federal government provided transfer vouchers to those residents to assist them in moving to appropriate housing.

This case was investigated by the FHFA – OIG, HUD OIG and the FBI.  With the cooperation of Israeli authorities, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Marshals Service provided significant assistance in securing Fein’s extradition. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri has finalized a civil settlement to resolve allegations that SSM Health Care, at its Saint Louis University Hospital’s pharmacy, improperly waived patient copays, causing Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) to overpay for prescriptions.

SSM has agreed to pay $939,290, or double the amount of the restitution owed. SSM will also pay $150,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to the whistleblower who filed a qui tam suit in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in 2023 (4:23-cv-1396). The whistleblower will receive $159,210 of the settlement amount.

The settlement contains no admission of liability by SSM, which fully cooperated in the investigation and took appropriate remedial action.

The qui tam suit alleged that from Sept. 1, 2020, through Feb. 28, 2023, employees of the retail pharmacy at SSM-SLUH, including the pharmacist-in-charge, routinely waived and failed to collect copays. Routine waivers of copays are improper because they are viewed as improperly inducing patients to use a specific pharmacy. They also misrepresent the actual cost of the prescription, resulting in Medicare and FEHBP paying inflated costs for the prescriptions in violation of the False Claims Act.

“Consistently failing to collect patient copays in any instance, other than a well-documented case of financial hardship, violates federal law and inflates the prescription costs that federal health care programs must pay,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “Without the willingness of whistleblowers to shed light on allegations of fraud, preserving government funds would be far more challenging.”

“Routinely waiving copays is not a minor oversight—it misrepresents the true cost of prescriptions and leads Medicare to pay improperly inflated amounts,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda T. Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “These improper financial incentives undermine fair competition and weaken federal program safeguards. HHS-OIG will continue to pursue individuals and entities whose actions compromise the integrity of the Medicare program.”

This civil settlement was a result of the combined work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

Under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, a private party can file a civil action on behalf of the United States, thereby bringing allegations of fraud to the Government’s attention, and share in any financial recovery. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a Jefferson County, Missouri man who engaged in sex acts with a 13-year-old and requested and obtained nude photos of her to 20 years in prison.

Anthony A. Moore, now 49, engaged in sex acts with the victim in 2023 and 2024, beginning when she was 13 and he was 46. The victim’s father reported to law enforcement that he went through her cell phone and discovered communications between Moore and his daughter, including Moore’s requests for nude photos of her. Investigators found images of her on Moore’s phone after his arrest.

Moore pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March to one count of receipt of child pornography.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – An Illinois man on Wednesday admitted engaging in a conspiracy to steal checks from the mail and deposit them into fraudulently-opened bank accounts.

Isaiah W. Douglas, 24, of Champaign, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of stolen mail matter. He admitted conspiring with others to deposit checks that had been stolen from the mail by opening unauthorized bank accounts in the names of the businesses that were listed as payees on the checks. Douglas admitted that he and his co-conspirators intended to cause a loss of at least $581,123, based on the value of stolen checks deposited into unauthorized business accounts and the stolen checks recovered by police.

Luis A. Franco-Gonzalez, 26, of Rantoul, Ill., and Isaiah B. Handford, 28, pleaded guilty on May 20 to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.

Douglas’ plea agreement says that he and others stole checks, or caused them to be stolen, from collection boxes in and around St. Louis. Douglas then offered money to Handford and Franco-Gonzalez to fraudulently open bank accounts and supplied them with false business documents to do so. On June 12, 2023, Handford entered a St. Louis bank and applied to open a business bank account in the name of one of the victim businesses by falsely claiming that he was an owner and registered agent of the business. Suspicious bank officials refused to open an account. That same day, Franco-Gonzalez was successful in opening an account at a different bank in Chesterfield and depositing a $312,677 check.

The following day, Handford and Franco-Gonzalez tried to open an account at a bank in Creve Coeur. Franco-Gonzalez entered the bank while Handford waited in the parking lot in the getaway vehicle, a tan Mercedes sedan. The bank refused to open an account for Franco-Gonzalez and he fled the bank on foot. Police spotted the Mercedes nearby and arrested Handford. Officers went to a nearby Drury Hotel, saw Franco-Gonzalez in a white Ford Explorer in the parking lot and arrested him. The Explorer contained a handgun and fraudulent paperwork in the name of one of the victims. Officers encountered Douglas at the hotel, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag that contained more fraudulent paperwork, a handgun and 53 loose checks, money orders, and envelopes that had been stolen from collection boxes. In hotel rooms used by the conspirators, police found more stolen mail and an additional stolen check.

All three are scheduled to be sentenced on September 2.

The Creve Coeur Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon from St. Louis on Monday admitted selling nearly two pounds of methamphetamine to an undercover federal agent and being caught with cocaine, guns and more meth.

Anthony Watkins, 37, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to seven counts: four counts of distribution of methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted selling a total of 814 grams of meth, or about 1.8 pounds, to an undercover agent on four occasions between June and August of 2024. When federal agents conducted a court-approved search of Watkins’ home on Sept. 4, 2024, they found about 3.1 pounds of meth, about one pound of cocaine, a stolen .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, a 9mm pistol and an AR-style rifle. As a felon, Watkins is banned from possessing firearms.

Watkins is scheduled to be sentenced on September 24.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF St. Louis comprises agents and officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Untied States Marshal Service (USMS); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon on Monday admitted robbing a Creve Coeur bank in 2025.

Matthew Parker, 48, of Hanley Hills, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of bank robbery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted robbing a bank in the 11400 block of Olive Boulevard in Creve Coeur on June 16, 2025. Parker handed a note demanding money to a bank employee while holding one hand in the front pocket of his sweatshirt. The employee handed over cash and Parker left. Multiple images of Parker were released to the public and several people contacted law enforcement to provide his name, phone number and address. On July 1, 2025, officers conducted a court-approved search of Parker’s home and found a pistol. Parker is a convicted felon and is thus barred from possessing firearms. After Parker’s arrest, he said he robbed the bank because he owed someone money.

Parker is scheduled to be sentenced on September 28.

The Creve Coeur Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Peters, Missouri was charged with drug and gun crimes Wednesday after a toddler suffered an apparent fentanyl overdose.

Kevin Lamar Knowles, 50, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday.

An affidavit filed in support of the complaint says that first responders called to the family’s St. Peters home at about 4:30 p.m. on June 16 discovered a 12-month-old suffering from an apparent fentanyl overdose. They administered Narcan and took the boy to the hospital. When Knowles brought the victim’s twin brother to the hospital, staff determined that he had also been exposed to fentanyl, xylazine and tramadol, the affidavit says. St. Peters police then found an assault rifle, a pistol and bulk cash in the home and about 1.5 pounds of raw fentanyl in the trunk of a car in the driveway, the affidavit says. Knowles is a convicted felon and is thus barred from possessing firearms.

Charges set forth in a criminal complaint are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

“I applaud the quick thinking and professionalism of law enforcement and the health care workers who administered care for the children, and we hope the health of the children continues to improve,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “This case is more proof that fentanyl is poison and should be treated as such.”

“This case is a stark reminder that fentanyl continues to pose a serious threat to the community, particularly to our young people and children,” said Chief Andrew Ramirez of the St. Peters Police Department. “The swift actions of the St. Charles County Ambulance District, combined with the outstanding work of our patrol officers and detectives, helped save lives and led to the seizure of a significant quantity of fentanyl. This case also demonstrates the value of our strong and continuing partnership with the DEA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Our commitment to protecting the community and pursuing those who traffic deadly drugs remains unwavering.”

“Two young children came into contact with a substance that no individual young or old should be around, let alone ingest,” Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Field Division Assistant Special Agent in Charge Colin Dickey said. “Fentanyl, even amounts small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil, can be life threatening. We’re grateful for the work of those who performed life saving measures on these children. It’s imperative that we raise awareness and continue having conversations in our communities about the lethality of this drug. These efforts, combined with the work of our agents and law enforcement partners are necessary to prevent another life from being lost to this terrible poison.”

The St. Peters Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are investigating the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Thursday sentenced a St. Louis sex offender who was caught again with child sexual abuse material to 140 months in prison.

Sandor Spies, 39, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted that while on supervised release for a prior child pornography possession offense, probation officers found multiple unauthorized electronic devices during a home visit. A later forensic exam of the devices revealed pictures and videos containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the devices, as well as evidence that Spies was using the devices to view CSAM, communicate with individuals involved in the distribution of CSAM and to buy and sell drugs. The devices also contained chat messages in which Spies and others shared fantasies of violently raping minors, Spies’ plea agreement says.

The U.S. Probation Office and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon from St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday admitted being caught with 17 guns after fleeing from police and triggering a standoff at his home.

Demond Spruill, 51, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. On March 12, 2024, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, assisted by members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team, were planning to conduct a court-approved search of Spruill’s home in the 4400 block of Lexington Avenue. Prior to serving the search warrant, law enforcement encountered Spruill and pulled his red Dodge Charger over near the 2800 block of Marcus Avenue. Spruill refused to get out of the car and instead sped off. When officers and agents arrived at Spruill’s home, he was leaving the home and walking toward his car. Spruill then ran back inside the house and refused to leave. After negotiating with law enforcement via telephone, Spruill surrendered. During a search, officers and agents found 17 firearms, including two that were stolen. They also found five bullet-resistant vests and a large quantity of assorted ammunition inside his bedroom.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Lake is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon who lied about the accidental shooting of a toddler to 47 months in prison.

On March 6, 2025, Rodrick Miller and his girlfriend cleaned an Anderson Manufacturing, AM-15 semiautomatic pistol and left it unattended on a couch in the girlfriend’s Wellston home. After the girlfriend’s son was shot in the calf, she and Miller took him to the hospital. On the way, Miller hid the gun behind a tree in a wooded area. They then told North County Police Cooperative officers that the boy had been shot by a stray bullet during a gun battle between two vehicles while the girlfriend was walking home. Police later recovered the gun.

Miller, 36, of Pine Lawn, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, he is barred from possessing firearms.

The North County Police Cooperative, the St. Ann Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Franks prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a man caught with more than four pounds of meth to 10 years in prison.

Craig M. Perkins, now 55, pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted as part of his plea that during a court approved search of his home in Howardville, in New Madrid County, on May 21, 2025, investigators found about 4.2 pounds of meth. They found half an ounce of meth and 36 rounds of ammunition in a vehicle in the driveway. His phone contained text messages indicative of drug trafficking and photos of firearms and Perkins displaying large stacks of cash.

A motion filed in July of 2025 seeking to have Perkins held in jail until trial says that he has been a drug dealer in New Madrid County since at least 2002, and supplied dealers who sold meth to customers. The search of Perkins’ home followed seven purchases of meth from two of those dealers, the motion says.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Missouri State Highway patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a man caught with a fully automatic pistol to 46 months in prison.

Jadiah Dawontra Hines, 20, pleaded guilty in March to two counts: possession of a machine gun and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted possessing a stolen Glock .40-caliber pistol with a “switch,” or machine gun conversion device, attached, rendering it a fully automatic weapon. Hines had posted a photo on social media of himself with a small child seated between his legs and pointing the Glock in the air over the child’s head. When confronted by a woman about the picture, Hines threatened her, saying he would “shoot her in the face,” Hines’ plea says. The gun had been reported stolen in Scott County. Hines has prior convictions for stealing firearms in New Madrid and Mississippi counties and for stealing a vehicle in Scott County, and awaits sentencing in circuit court for violating his probation in those cases.

The Charleston Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a convicted felon who was caught with a gun in a stolen minivan after ramming a police cruiser to 12 years in prison.  

On Aug. 1, 2023, detectives with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spotted a minivan at a gas station in the 1600 block of South Jefferson Avenue that had been stolen earlier that day. Rodney Patterson was alone in the passenger seat of the vehicle, which was running. Instead of turning off the vehicle, Patterson tried to drive away, striking a police cruiser. He then tried to flee on foot but was arrested. Police found a Ruger LC Charger handgun on the front passenger seat. Patterson is a convicted felon and is thus barred from possessing a firearm.

Patterson, 49, pleaded guilty in February to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a convicted felon to life plus 15 years in prison for shooting four teens, killing two and causing the death of one woman’s baby a month later.

Eddie Marcus Love, 39, fatally shot the two 18-year-old women and wounded the two pregnant 17-year-olds at 1:46 a.m. on May 7, 2023, near the 1900 block of Agnes Street in St. Louis.

Less than a month after being released on parole after being sentenced to 20 years in prison on robbery and armed criminal action charges, “Mr. Love essentially decides to go on a killing spree,” Judge Clark said. Love prefaced the spree by telling his nephew, Charles Webster, that he was in a “killing mood,” Judge Clark said.

That evening, Love arranged to meet up with the teens, who wanted to obtain marijuana and visit a bar. Webster was driving the car and Love was in the passenger seat. The four teens were in the back seat.

Webster and Love twice tried and failed to buy marijuana. When the victims expressed their frustration, Love told them to get out of the car. Love shoved one victim, who told him to stop because she was pregnant. Love then opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Love and Webster got in the car and drove off before Love told Webster to circle the block and return. He then shot one of the wounded victims twice more in the head. She was 10 weeks pregnant, but her child was not injured. The child of the other wounded victim, who was 30 weeks pregnant, was delivered by emergency C-section and died on June 11, 2023, as a result of gunshot wounds.

In court, Judge Clark cited Love’s lengthy criminal history, which began with assault at the age of nine. When behind bars, Love threatened to kill and rape correctional officers, their relatives and other inmates, including after he pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four counts: conspiracy to distribute marijuana, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of ammunition and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Webster, now 30, pleaded guilty in December to three counts: conspiracy to knowingly and intentionally possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in May to 25 years in prison.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angie Danis and Don Boyce prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A Moberly, Missouri man on Wednesday admitted fraudulently obtaining $284,000 that was supposed to provide rental assistance to Missouri residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steven W. Hendren, 33, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of wire fraud. He admitted submitting a series of fraudulent applications for rental assistance to the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) from March 2021 through June 2024. The MHDC administered the State Assistance for Housing Relief (SAFHR) program, which was designed to provide emergency assistance for rent, utility bills and other expenses during the pandemic.

Hendren submitted numerous fraudulent SAFHR applications, falsely listing himself as a landlord. He included fake lease agreements and financial statements. He submitted other applications in which he fraudulently inflated rent amounts and altered lease agreements and financial statements to back up his lies. The MHDC wired a total of $284,840 to Hendren’s account, much of which Hendren used for personal expenses, including the purchase of a 2020 GMC Yukon.

Hendren is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8. The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both prison and a fine. He will also be ordered to repay the money.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a former St. Louis circus official to 22 months in prison and ordered him to repay $130,905.

George S. Pace, 63, was on the board of directors of the nonprofit circus beginning in 2020 and later became board president. From December 2022 through at least September 2023, he stole from the circus in multiple ways. He used a credit card that he’d obtained without the knowledge or approval of the circus to pay thousands of dollars of personal expenses, including payments to nail salons, restaurants, and for skin care treatments. He used a second card for more unapproved expenses, including horseback riding related expenses and for restaurant meals. When another circus official reviewed the second card’s expenses, Pace lied and claimed the card had been stolen. Pace presented the official with forged account statements falsely showing that he had resolved the charges.

Pace also diverted checks drawn on the circus’ bank account to himself instead of using them to pay down a line of credit. Pace’s diversion of the line of credit payments caused thousands of dollars in interest to be accrued by the circus.

Finally, Pace deposited thousands of dollars of donor checks made out to the circus into his personal account. In the plea agreement, Pace admitted defrauding the circus out of over $123,015. He also will be responsible for repaying fees and interest to two banks totaling $7,889.

Pace also fraudulently applied for two U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Assistance Loans totaling $29,400. The SBA denied the loans.

In court Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll said defrauding a nonprofit was “one of the most offensive types of frauds,” and represented years of deliberate acts by Pace.

Pace, of Ladue, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four counts of wire fraud.

“The shame should only be borne by George Pace and no one else. He stole from a locally owned non-profit circus that has been creating fun memories for families and children for decades,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Like a typical embezzler, Pace was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and exploited the trust that was given him.”

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Tuesday sentenced a former tax preparer to 27 months in prison and ordered him to repay the $52,080 he stole from clients’ tax refunds and COVID-19 stimulus payments.

From 2016-2020, Mark A. Murphy, 40, prepared tax returns for clients but did not list himself as the paid return preparer. Murphy instead signed the taxpayers’ names on the returns, making it appear that they had submitted the returns instead of him. Without the taxpayers’ knowledge, he opened bank accounts for them that he used to collect his tax preparation fees from clients’ tax refunds.

The bulk of Murphy’s crime concerned Economic Impact Payments (EIPs), which were issued directly from the IRS to taxpayers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of these EIPs were deposited into the unauthorized bank accounts that Murphy set up. Despite knowing that these EIPs were intended for his clients and not him, Murphy withdrew EIP funds in cash and used debit cards linked to the accounts to make personal purchases. During this period, Murphy also kept a client’s entire tax refund for himself. Murphy stole a total of $52,080 in EIPs and refunds from clients from April 2020 to March 2021.

“The Defendant attempted to conceal the fact that he prepared tax returns for his clients and then stole their refunds by opening bank accounts in their names without their knowledge or approval,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation St. Louis Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “IRS-CI remains committed to tracking down fraudsters who exploit the U.S. tax system by stealing from innocent taxpayers and the U.S. Treasury.”

"The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) aggressively investigates tax preparers who attempt to undermine our Nation's tax system," said TIGTA Special Agent in Charge Kelly Moening. “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who seek to corrupt federal tax administration are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Murphy pleaded guilty in March to one count of theft of government property.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and IRS – Criminal Investigation handled the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.