Eastern District of Missouri
Press releases recorded for this federal judicial district.
Cape Girardeau Man Sentenced to Serve 9 Years in Federal Prison for Unlawfully Possessing FirearmRead the Press Release
CAPE GIRARDEAU - The United States Attorney's Office announced that Mark A. Brand, 33, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was sentenced to serve 9 years in federal prison for the offense of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Brand appeared for his sentencing hearing today before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
At a guilty plea hearing last year, Brand admitted that he attempted to flee from law enforcement officers in the City of Cape Girardeau during a criminal investigation in October 2019. A high-speed pursuit ensued. Brand eventually lost control of his car and crashed, at which point he tried to run away on foot. He was apprehended after a short foot chase. A backpack was found lying on the ground near Brand’s car, which contained a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver. Brand is prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law because of his status as a convicted felon, including a 2009 federal drug-trafficking conviction.
After serving his sentence, Brand will be placed on supervised release for a period of three years.
This case was investigated by the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Assistant United States Attorney Jack Koester handled the prosecution for the government.
Jefferson County Chiropractor, Employees Convicted of Disability Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Wednesday convicted a chiropractor from Jefferson County, Missouri, one current and one former employee of conspiring to commit disability fraud.
Vivian Carbone-Hobbs, 60, of Fenton, Christina Barrera, 63, of St. Louis, and Clarissa Pogue, 39, of DeSoto were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration. Carbone-Hobbs was convicted of 10 counts of health care fraud and two counts of theft of money from the United States. Pogue was convicted of one count of theft of money from the United States.
The three conspired with each other and others to fraudulently obtain disability payments for patients.
Carbone-Hobbs is the co-owner of Power-Med Inc., a chiropractic clinic in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband Thomas G. Hobbs. In closing arguments Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry told jurors that in exchange for upfront fees of thousands of dollars, the conspirators would coach those patients on how to conceal their abilities so they would seem unable to work and perform many of the basic functions of life, like lifting, sitting, standing and walking. Patients also had to pay hundreds of dollars for annual appointments to keep qualifying for disability payments, Berry said.
Patients were told they should go on disability “so you can enjoy yourself,” Berry told jurors.
One woman “just wanted time away from work” when she arrived for an appointment at PowerMed, Berry said, but was told “You need to go out on disability.”
An undercover investigator who was not injured but said, “I’m just tired of working,” was told, “You’re going out, you’re going to be permanently disabled,” Berry said, quoting an undercover video of the conversation.
Carbone-Hobbs was also billing insurance companies for services that were not provided.
All three are scheduled to be sentenced May 4. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both. The health care fraud and theft charges carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and the same fine. They will also be ordered to repay the money.
Carbone-Hobbs’ husband, Thomas G. Hobbs, 65, pleaded guilty in January to a conspiracy charge and admitted conspiring to commit the crimes of health care fraud, making false statements, theft of government funds and Social Security fraud.
Sixteen defendants have either been convicted at trial or pleaded guilty. One case is still pending.
Hobbs admitted that beginning in 2011, he fraudulently assisted patients in receiving more than $3.5 million in disability benefit payments through the Social Security Administration’s Disability Trust Fund and through private disability benefit insurance providers. Hobbs charged patients between $2,000 and $8,600 to prepare disability forms and coached them to lie to the Social Security Administration and insurers about their ability to perform basic activities.
Hobbs also used a fictitious medical license number and submitted false and fraudulent medical reports to buttress patients’ disability claims. Hobbs submitted or caused to be submitted false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to health care benefit programs for services that were not provided, medically unnecessary services or services provided by unqualified persons to make it appear that the disability patients had medical conditions.
He also admitted that despite his lack of a medical license, between 2011 and 2019 he purchased and dispensed prescription medications, administered injections and dispensed medications intravenously to patients.
Hobbs is scheduled to be sentenced April 19.
The cases were investigated by the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Berry, Dorothy McMurtry, Diane Klocke and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.
Anyone who suspects fraud involving the Disability Insurance Benefit Program is asked to contact the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General Hotline at: 1-800-269-0271 or https://oig.ssa.gov/report/.
Former Jefferson County Municipal Prosecutor Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Sexual Contact with DefendantRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday sentenced the former municipal prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, Missouri to 18 months for having coerced sexual contact with a court defendant and lying about it to the FBI.
Judge Clark also ordered James Isaac “Ike” Crabtree to pay the costs of any counseling for the victim.
“James Crabtree repeatedly coerced a woman into sexual activity by offering to help her with pending criminal cases and making her think she risked jail and the loss of her children if she refused,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming. “The sentence he received today should send a message to officials about the consequences of betraying the public’s trust and violating the rights of vulnerable victims.”
After spotting the victim and chatting with her and her boyfriend on March 8, 2021, Crabtree summoned the woman to his office in the courthouse after hours by offering to help her with pending court cases. Crabtree let her in through a side door. The building was dark and they were alone.
Crabtree offered her liquor and prescription drugs. He then referenced two of the victim’s cases that he was prosecuting, and told her that he could help get cases in other courts dismissed, according to a recording that the victim made of the encounter. Crabtree said, “…I can be a very valuable friend,” and unsolicited, gave the victim $300, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith.
After the victim told Crabtree that she was not going to have sex with him and was not a prostitute, Crabtree mentioned her two children, which she interpreted as a threat that she could be jailed and lose her children, the memo says.
Judge Clark said she went along with Crabtree “out of fear.”
Crabtree kissed and groped her, took off her shirt, asked her to take off more clothing and masturbated, ejaculating on the floor in front of her.
A week later, Crabtree asked the victim to meet him behind a Dollar General, where he kissed her and had her sit on her lap. He then asked her to meet him at a bed and breakfast and did it again. At a restaurant, he kissed and groped her, asked her to send him nude pictures so he could masturbate in his office and asked if she would get a room with him, Judge Clark said.
In court, the victim said, “Honestly, this has taken everything from me,” adding that she’d lost her home and her two young children due to the Crabtree’s crimes. She also said Crabtree had stalked her and shown up at her workplace.
In a written statement, she said, “When I showed up to the courthouse and his office, I trusted him. Instead of an officer of the court and a true prosecutor, I found out that I encountered a monster and a person not deserving of the titles and office bestowed upon him. He horribly abused my trust in him. He violated me. He sexually assaulted me.”
“In the moments leading up to it and after the assaults, he preyed upon my vulnerabilities and weaknesses,” she continued. “He then continued to use those vulnerabilities and weaknesses to exercise his control over me and manipulate me. He threatened to interfere in my other legal matters and talked about how powerful he was and how he knew the attorneys or judges involved and could easily contact them. To this date, I still do not know whether he contacted them or how many.”
Under questioning by FBI agents about the incident on March 3, 2022, Crabtree repeatedly lied when he denied kissing and touching the victim, telling her to undress and masturbating in his office.
"James Crabtree is even worse than other sexual predators because he used his official authority to abuse a victim, which makes his sexual assault a civil rights violation," said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. "The FBI prioritizes investigating any government employee who misuses his or her official position."
Crabtree, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in August to a misdemeanor charge of deprivation of rights under color of law, namely the woman’s right to bodily integrity, and a felony charge of making false statements to the FBI. The guidelines for the crimes recommended by the U.S. Sentencing Commission were 12 to 18 months in prison.
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.
Former Assistant City Clerk Admits Stealing $160,000 from Small North St. Louis County MunicipalityRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – The former assistant city clerk of Flordell Hills, Missouri on Monday admitted stealing $159,903 from the small, struggling city.
The guilty plea of Donna Thompson, 76, to one mail fraud and one wire fraud charge follows by one day the plea of the former city clerk, Maureen Thompson, 68, to the same charges.
Both women admitted writing about 614 city checks to themselves from roughly February 2016 to April 2022 without the authority or knowledge of the mayor, the treasurer or the board of aldermen. They forged the signature of the mayor and/or the treasurer on the checks.
Thompson admitted that roughly 246 checks were written to her.
Woodson and Thompson cashed some checks and deposited some into their personal bank accounts. They used the money for personal expenses and to gamble both in person and online.
They also used city checks or wire transfers of city funds to directly pay the rent for their shared home in Florissant as well as for entertainment, federal taxes and bills at restaurants and stores.
Thompson admitted fraudulently receiving $159,903 and Woodson admitted obtaining $487,673.
Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced May 17 by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Each charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. She will also be ordered to repay the money.
Woodson was hired in 2010 and Thompson in 2012. Both women were terminated in May of 2022.
Flordell Hills is roughly six blocks square, has an annual budget of about $400,000 and a population of about 800. Approximately 53.9% of those residents live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.
Missouri Woman Admits Selling 7 Machine Gun Conversion DevicesRead the Press Release
CAPE GIRARDEAU – A woman from Stoddard, County, Missouri on Monday admitted selling seven devices that turn AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles into machine guns.
Sidney Brianne Scowden, 41, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. to one count of conspiracy to transfer a machine gun and three counts of transfer of a machine gun.
In her plea, Scowden admitted that on Aug. 11, 2022, she sold three “lightning links” for $500 each to someone working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She sold another three on Sept. 19, 2022 and a final one on Oct. 19, 2022.
Lightning links, also known as drop-in auto sears, convert a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle into an automatic weapon. Even if not installed in a firearm, they are considered machine guns under federal law.
Scowden had reached out to the person working with the ATF on Snapchat, asking “You know anyone who wants to buy a lightning link for an AR to go fully automatic,” her plea says.
Scowden is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The charge of transfer of a machine gun carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and the same fine.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.
Former City Clerk Admits Stealing $487,673 from Small North St. Louis County MunicipalityRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – The former city clerk of Flordell Hills, Missouri on Monday admitted stealing $487,673 from the small, struggling city.
Maureen Woodson, 68, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel to one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Woodson admitted that from roughly February 2016 to April 2022, she and the former assistant city clerk, Donna Thompson, wrote about 614 checks to themselves without the authority or knowledge of the mayor, the treasurer or the board of aldermen. They forged the signature of the mayor and/or the treasurer on the checks, the plea agreement says.
Woodson and Thompson cashed some checks and deposited others into their personal bank accounts, the plea says. Woodson and Thompson used the money to gamble both in person and online, and for personal expenses, the plea agreement says.
They also used city checks or wire transfers of city funds to directly pay the rent for their home in Florissant as well as for entertainment, their federal taxes and expenses at restaurants and stores, the plea says.
In her plea, Woodson admitted fraudulently obtaining $487,673.
Thompson has pleaded not guilty but has scheduled a change of plea February 7, according to court records.
Woodson and Thompson, 75, were indicted in August.
Woodson is scheduled to be sentenced May 16 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Each charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. She will also be ordered to repay the money.
Woodson was hired in 2010 and Thompson in 2012. Both women were terminated in May.
Flordell Hills is roughly six blocks square, has an annual budget of about $400,000 and a population of about 800. Approximately 53.9% of those residents live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.
St. Louis County Man Arrested on Child Pornography ChargeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri was arrested Friday on a federal charge of receiving of child pornography.
Christopher D. Cotton, 32, appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis later Friday and pleaded not guilty. He was indicted this week.
The indictment alleges that Cotton used electronic devices to receive multiple videos and images containing child pornography, including videos featuring infants.
A motion seeking to have him jailed until trial says Cotton traded child pornography with others, possessed thousands of videos and images containing child pornography and had asked for and received sexual images from minors that he’d communicated with via social media.
The motion says the investigation began with a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after someone uploaded files containing child sexual abuse material to Dropbox.
The case was investigated by the Maryland Heights Police Department, the St. Louis County Special Investigations Unit and the FBI. 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.
Missouri Doctor Admits Diluting Clinic’s MethadoneRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A doctor admitted on Friday that he diluted methadone that was dispensed in a St. Francois County, Missouri methadone clinic in 2021.
Dr. Sunil G. Chand, 59, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one count of adulterating a drug with the intent to defraud or mislead. He admitted that while the owner of Best Medical LLC, a family medicine clinic in Leadington, Missouri, he added saline and water to bottles of methadone to conceal a shortage of the drug from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Dr. Chand decided in 2020 to open a methadone clinic to treat patients with narcotic use disorders, his plea agreement says. Dr. Chand caused Best Medical to obtain a DEA registration authorizing it to operate as a narcotic treatment program and to store and dispense Schedule II controlled substances, including methadone, to treat patients with narcotic use disorders.
On April 6, 2021, the clinic received twelve 1,000 milliliter bottles of methadone oral concentrate. Best Medical's methadone clinic opened the next day, treating patients who came in to receive an oral, liquid dose of methadone.
By April 22, Dr. Chand became aware that methadone was missing. Instead of reporting the methadone loss to the DEA within one business day of its discovery, as required, he instructed Best Medical's clinical director several days later to complete and submit a DEA Form 106 to report the loss.
Dr. Chand admitted that the form, submitted April 28, inaccurately reported that 1,075 milliliters of methadone had been lost. Dr. Chand then came in on a Sunday, when the clinic was closed, to dilute the methadone, his plea agreement says.
As part of the plea agreement, Dr. Chand has also agreed to surrender his DEA registration, which authorized him to prescribe certain controlled substances.
Dr. Chand is scheduled to be sentenced May 30. The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.
"As part of our mission, DEA is dedicated to patient safety and oversight of all medical professionals registered with DEA,” said Diversion Program Manager Inez Davis, DEA’s lead for the Diversion program in Missouri, Kansas and southern Illinois. “Dr. Chand abused his authority and public trust by altering controlled substance medications intended for those seeking treatment for substance use disorders. With this acknowledgement of wrongdoing, his patients will no longer be subjected to substandard care."
“The Food and Drug Administration oversees the U.S. drug supply to ensure that they are safe and effective; those who distribute adulterated drugs may place American consumers at risk,” said Special Agent in Charge Charles L. Grinstead of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Kansas City Field Office. “Our office will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who violate laws designed to protect the public health.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric is prosecuting the case.
St. Louis Man Facing Charges Associated with Nonfatal Carjacking Charged with Second, Fatal CarjackingRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis, Missouri man already facing charges for one non-fatal carjacking in August was indicted on charges Wednesday that allege he committed a fatal carjacking in July.
The superseding indictment alleges that Loyse Dozier, 20, discharged a firearm during the fatal carjacking of a 2014 Mercedes sedan on July 10, 2022.
Court documents indicate that carjacking occurred at a market in the 300 block of Chambers Road in Riverview, in St. Louis County.
Dozier now faces charges of carjacking resulting in death, brandishing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, resulting in death, attempted carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury, possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon.
A prior indictment and criminal complaint also allege that Dozier attempted to take a 2019 Kia Optima at gunpoint on August 1 from a woman who was sitting in her car in the parking lot of the Walgreens at 1400 North Grand Boulevard in St. Louis. A gunman approached the woman and demanded her keys, then shot her multiple times after she handed the keys over. The gunman fled when an off-duty Florissant Police officer working security inside the store ran outside.
Shell casings recovered at the Walgreens matched casings found at the market, the complaint says. A cell phone belonging to Dozer was found in the Kia and when he was arrested he was caught with a gun, the indictments and complaint allege. Dozier is a previously convicted felon and barred from possessing a firearm.
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 case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin is prosecuting the case.
Missouri Man Sentenced to 5 ½ Years in Prison for Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Peters, Missouri to five and one-half years in prison on a charge of possessing of child pornography.
Martin D. Smith, 58, possessed 2,561 images and 13 videos containing child pornography on his OnePlus cellular telephone, a Samsung cellular telephone and an Alcatel tablet, his plea agreement says. Smith pleaded guilty in November.
The investigation began with an August 21, 2020 tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Smith was uploading of multiple files containing child pornography. Smith later admitted viewing and downloading child pornography from the internet, and said he had been doing so for a year and half.
The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force and the FBI. 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 Rapper Sentenced to 7+ Years in Prison for Gun ChargeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a St. Louis gang leader and rapper to seven years and eight months in prison on a gun charge.
Arthur Pressley, a.k.a. 30 Deep Grimeyy or Grimeyy, was not only caught with a gun as a convicted felon, but had fake gun sale documents created to try and escape the charge.
Pressley, now 25, was stopped by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers on Jan. 5, 2021 in a 2008 Pontiac G8. The Pontiac had a taillight out and had license plates registered to a Jeep.
Police found a Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol next to Pressley.
After the traffic stop, Pressley began sending text messages to the original purchaser of the gun, asking him to falsify a bill of sale to one of the other occupants of the Pontiac. He produced another falsified copy of the bill of sale in October, on the first day of his trial on the felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Pressley then pleaded guilty rather than continue the trial. He admitted possessing the gun on a number of occasions between Oct. 4, 2021, the day after it was purchased, and the date of the traffic stop.
Investigators also found pictures of Pressley and the gun on the social media accounts of Pressley and others and in Pressley’s phone, including one in which the serial number of the gun can be seen. Pressley also discusses the gun in messages.
U.S. Attorney's office.Pressley, as a convicted felon, is barred from possessing firearms. He was twice convicted of a charge of unlawful use of a weapon.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been investigating Pressley and his gang, 30 Deep, for over a year at the time of the traffic stop.
“ATF has no more important mission than working with our law enforcement partners to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals,” said Frederic Winston, Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City Field Division, of the ATF. “In partnership with the Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department and United States Attorney’s Office, we will continue to work tirelessly to bring those who illegally acquire and possess firearms, to justice.”
The case was investigated by the ATF and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassandra Wiemken and Jennifer Szczucinski are prosecuting the case.
St. Louis Rapper Arrested on Fentanyl, Gun ChargesRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis, Missouri rapper was arrested Wednesday on fentanyl and gun charges.
Antonio Harris, 25, was indicted June 22, 2022 on three charges: possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession a firearm as a convicted felon. Harris, who performs as “LA 4SS,” appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment alleges that Harris possessed the fentanyl and a firearm on Feb. 16, 2022. A detention motion says when police tried to stop a Toyota Corolla on North Broadway in the Baden neighborhood, Harris sped off. Officers used spike strips, but Harris continued north on Riverview Drive before colliding with the median near the intersection of Riverview and Spring Garden Drive.
Harris got out of the car and ran, discarding a bag that contained nearly 400 capsules containing fentanyl and plastic baggies containing just under 6 grams of fentanyl in raw form, the motion says. Police found a loaded Glock 9mm pistol in the car. Harris has multiple prior felony convictions and is barred from possessing a firearm.
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 case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin is prosecuting the case.
Woman Who Aided Robber on St. Louis Arch Grounds Sentenced to 2 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Tuesday sentenced a woman who aided a juvenile who committed an armed robbery on the Arch Grounds to two years in prison.
Kaniya Sloan, 20, of Belleville, was in downtown St. Louis on Sept. 13, 2021 along with Christopher Franklin and a juvenile male. The juvenile robbed a man and a woman at gunpoint at about 7:30 p.m. on the grounds of the Gateway Arch, according to court documents. The woman handed over her purse and the male victim handed over his iPhone and wallet.
Franklin then drove with Sloan and the juvenile to a WalMart in Illinois, where they sold the phones in an EcoATM kiosk about 30 minutes later.
Two days after the robbery, St. Louis police spotted Franklin’s vehicle in downtown St. Louis and stopped them. Franklin, Sloan and the juvenile were in the vehicle, along with a black Glock 19 handgun and one of the items from the female vehicle’s purse.
Both Sloan and Franklin admitted their involvement after being confronted with photographs of the EcoATM kiosk transaction.
Both Sloan and Franklin pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to a robbery. Franklin, now 20, of St. Louis County, was sentenced in October to two years in prison.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the National Park Service investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag prosecuted the case.
St. Charles Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Trying to Bring 100 Pounds of Methamphetamine to the St. Louis AreaRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a man from St. Charles, Missouri caught trying to bring 100 pounds of methamphetamine to the St. Louis area to 10 years in prison.
A traffic stop in Kansas led to the case against Demond Benard McDaniels Jr., of St. Charles, and Dawuane Lamont Rhodes Jr., of St. Louis. On Oct. 8, 2020, a Geary County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a van and found two duffle bags containing roughly 100 pounds of methamphetamine that was being driven from Colorado to McDaniels in the St. Louis area. The Drug Enforcement Administration then arranged for the controlled delivery of the drugs.
McDaniels first arranged to have Rhodes pick up and pay for the methamphetamine at a University City garage. Rhodes was arrested with $15,005 in cash, an assault-style weapon and a pistol. McDaniels was then told that Rhodes didn’t show, and he arrived only to be arrested with $6,930 in cash and jewelry.
Investigators later found $93,820 in cash and a pistol at McDaniels’ home.
McDaniels Jr., 26, and Rhodes Jr., 25, pleaded guilty in November to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. They agreed to forfeit more than $155,000 seized during the investigation, a 2016 Dodge Charger Hellcat, a 2015 Mercedes Sprinter van and a 2015 Dodge Charger Hellcat.
Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced March 3.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Florissant Bank Manager Admits Defrauding Elderly CustomersRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A former bank branch manager from Florissant, Missouri on Monday admitted targeting elderly customers of her bank and stealing $175,000 of customers' money.
Andrea Nicole Hopkins, 28, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig to four felony counts of bank fraud.
From Feb. 20, 2020 to May 25, 2021, while manager of the Commerce Bank branch on Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, she devised a scheme to divert money from customer accounts for her own use. She targeted elderly customers, knowing that some had a diminished capacity to understand their financial affairs, her plea agreement says. Among the victims are two 80-year-olds, one 95-year-old and one 82-year-old.
Hopkins logged into 15 accounts and transferred funds out into either cashier’s checks or prepaid cards in the names of other people, her plea says. She changed the address on some account statements, forged signatures and transferred funds among customers to try and hide the thefts.
In all, Hopkins fraudulently diverted a total of $328,273 from customer accounts, but $152,431 of that she transferred internally among customers to hide her theft, leaving $175,842 for her. Hopkins used the money to buy a motorcycle, to pay for living expenses and to pay personal debts.
Hopkins is scheduled to be sentenced May 8. The charges carry a penalty of up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.
St. Louis Man Sentenced to 16 ¾ Years in Prison on Carjacking, Other ChargesRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a man who carjacked a Kia in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis to 16 years and nine months in prison.
Travon D. Lawrence, now 29, of St. Louis, was caught with a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun and 59 capsules containing fentanyl after a Sept. 7, 2019 traffic stop. Lawrence, a convicted felon, is barred from possessing a firearm.
On Jan. 8, 2020, Lawrence carjacked a Kia Sportage at gunpoint in the 4300 block of Maryland Avenue. He was spotted by police officers responding to a different call and arrested after fleeing from police in the car and on foot after crashing that car.
Lawrence pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in August to four felonies: possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of one or more drug-trafficking crimes, carjacking and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
He still faces 35 charges in St. Louis Circuit Court, where he’s accused of a series of armed robberies and other crimes from Nov. 16, 2019 until his arrest in the Kia.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Christian Goeke prosecuted the case.
Missouri Felon Admits Selling 7 Machine GunsRead the Press Release
CAPE GIRARDEAU – A man from Dunklin County, Missouri on Friday admitted selling seven devices that convert AR-15-style rifles into automatic weapons.
Lamad Cross, 24, of Kennett, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one felony charge of unlawful transfer of a machine gun.
The investigation began on Jan. 21, 2022, when police in Cape Girardeau recovered a Glock pistol that had a “switch” installed that converted it to an automatic weapon, according to Cross’ guilty plea. Investigators then traced the Glock pistol to a person who admitted that they had bought the pistol for Cross, who as a convicted felon is barred from purchasing or possessing firearms.
A confidential informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contacted Cross via social media and asked about Glock switches, expressing an interest in purchasing one. Cross instead offered a drop-in “auto sear” that converts an AR-15-style rifle into an automatic weapon, and on Sept. 19, 2022 said his girlfriend would deliver the auto sear. She then delivered the device in exchange for $800. Cross later said he would send videos showing the informant how to install the auto sear and said he could offer a lower price if the informant bought in bulk.
On Sept. 27, 2022, Cross met with the informant in Cape Girardeau and sold three drop-in auto sear devices for $650 each. Cross also said that he was thinking about obtaining AR-15s so he could sell them with the auto sears installed.
On Oct. 12, 2022, Cross agreed to sell three more drop-in auto sears for a total of $1,900, and used a different woman to deliver them to an undercover ATF agent.
Glock switches and auto sears, even if not installed in a firearm, are considered machine guns under federal law.
Cross is scheduled to be sentenced May 4. Each charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
During a January 5 press conference in St. Louis, local and federal officials warned of an increase in the recovery and use of Glock switches and auto sears, which make firearms difficult to control and “inherently dangerous.”
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.
Former St. Louis County Employee Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Pandemic Relief Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a former St. Louis County, Missouri employee who launched a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 relief funds to 18 months in prison.
The scheme by Anthony “Tony” Weaver Sr. was “borne out of his own personal greed” and “his unbridled arrogance,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said during Thursday's sentencing hearing.
In May of 2020, Weaver approached a man who owned several small businesses in St. Louis County and suggested a way to fraudulently obtain grants from the county’s Small Business Relief (SBR) Program. The program used federal CARES Act money to help small businesses deal with the cost of closures due to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders.
Weaver then prepared false grant applications seeking the maximum of $15,000 and planned to split the money with the business owner. Weaver boasted to the business owner of his position in St. Louis County government, his relationship with high-ranking officials and his political influence, Goldsmith said.
Weaver falsely claimed in the applications that the businesses were closed and had to lay off employees during the pandemic. Weaver concealed the fact that Smith had at least 25% ownership in all six businesses because an owner was only allowed to apply for one grant.
Weaver claimed his former boss on the St. Louis County Council, Rochelle Walton Gray, would approve the grants, telling the business owner Walton Gray's office is “going to do what I tell them to do."
Weaver was formerly the administrative assistant for Walton Gray, who has since left the council. Weaver left for a higher-paying job as the “change management coordinator” at the St. Louis County jail. He was working at the jail at the time of his indictment in May of 2022. Weaver also served as the longtime committeeman of the Spanish Lake Township and on the board of Unity PAC, a north St. Louis County political organization.
In a May 14, 2020 meeting, Weaver told Smith, “There is a note here that Rochelle gets the final decision. They’ve got a commission, doesn’t really matter, she can override them.”
In a June 1, 2020 conversation, Weaver said, “All we have to do is apply for them because my people are inside, work their magic and do what they need to do.” He also claimed to have direct communication and conversations with the St. Louis County employee charged with overseeing the grant program.
Weaver never obtained any fraudulent grants for Smith, but told Smith he’d been paid $300 as a kickback for obtaining a grant for someone else.
“Had the Defendant’s scheme been successful, it would have diverted much needed grant funds from legitimate business applicants which actually had to close their doors and lay off employees during the pandemic,” the sentencing memorandum says.
Weaver pleaded guilty in October to four felony counts of wire fraud.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.
Missouri Construction Company Owner and COO Admits Minority Business Enterprise Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – The former owner and chief operating officer of a Clayton, Missouri construction company on Wednesday admitted committing fraud to sidestep St. Louis, Missouri requirements that encourage the participation of minority-owned businesses in city contract opportunities.
Brian Kowert Sr. pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to two counts of wire fraud.
Kowert was co-owner and chief operating officer of HBD Construction Inc., a general contracting, construction management and development company. At the time, Kowert was also acting as the project manager for the renovation and redevelopment of a building for Greater Goods LLC on Chouteau Avenue in St. Louis. Kowert and Charles Kirkwood, the owner of Midwestern Construction, a company that was a Minority Business Enterprise, agreed to falsely list Kirkwood’s company as providing materials and performing work on the project. Kowert sought to falsify the information to comply with St. Louis requirements for 25% participation by MBEs to qualify for a 10-year tax abatement.
The MBE participation requirements seek to address historical social and economic disadvantages experienced by minority group members and to reduce minority-based barriers to and foster participation by minority-owned businesses in city contract opportunities.
Kowert used a series of measures to conceal his violations of the city’s MBE guidelines, according to his guilty plea. On April 20, 2020, Kowert issued duplicate HBD subcontracts to Kirkwood’s company for work that was performed and materials that were supplied by two other, non-MBE companies. Kowert also issued a duplicate HBD purchase order to Kirkwood’s company for materials provided by a third non-MBE company.
On June 22, 2020, Kowert submitted a false chart of projected costs for the redevelopment project to the St. Louis Development Corporation, the city agency charged with reviewing, approving and recommending tax abatements. The chart falsely listed Kirkwood’s MBE company as providing labor and materials valued at approximately $198,000 on the Greater Goods redevelopment project and falsely omitted the three non-MBE companies which actually did the work and provided the materials.
Beginning on August 4, 2020, Kowert caused 14 HBD checks with a total value of about $220,000 to be issued to Kirkwood’s company for the work performed and materials provided by the three non-MBE companies. Kirkwood deposited those checks into his company bank account and then issued checks to the three non-MBE companies, at Kowert’s direction. Thus, Kowert used Kirkwood’s company as a fraudulent “pass through” in order to exchange the checks and violate the MBE requirements on the construction project.
Kirkwood was paid approximately $2,000 by Kowert for his role in acting as the fraudulent “pass through” MBE company.
Kowert admitted being “fully aware” that St. Louis Development Corporation guidelines required that an MBE company “perform a commercially useful function” and that his agreement with Kirkwood violated the city’s published MBE guidelines.
Between May 2021 and November 2021, Kowert and HBD caused a false application for tax abatement on behalf of Greater Goods for the Chouteau Avenue redevelopment project to be submitted to the St. Louis Development Corporation. The application falsely represented that Kirkwood’s MBE company had performed about $224,361 in project costs and omitted the three non-MBE companies. The $224,361 comprised approximately 6 ½% of the required 25% MBE participation in the project.
Greater Goods, which sells and distributes various kitchen, home, fitness, health and wellness products and donates a portion of the sales price to various charitable organizations, had no knowledge of Kowert’s scheme. Nor did its employees.
Kowert is scheduled to be sentenced April 26. Each wire fraud charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case.
Woman Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Aiding St. Louis Reality Show Star’s Murder PlotRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a woman who aided a reality show star’s plot to murder his nephew to three years in prison.
Terica Taneisha Ellis helped James Timothy Norman, who appeared on the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” locate his nephew, Andre Montgomery Jr., who also appeared on the show. Norman then passed his nephew’s location to another man, who fatally shot Montgomery, 21, at 3964 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis on March 14, 2016.
Ellis, now 39, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. The exotic dancer from Memphis, Tennessee admitted being paid $10,000 to locate Montgomery and lure him outside before the shooting.
Norman, 43, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in September of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 2, and is facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Norman took out a life insurance policy worth $450,000 on Montgomery, then arranged for Montgomery’s murder, according to testimony and evidence at his trial.
Before announcing the sentence Tuesday, Judge Ross said that without what he called “an incredible effort” by investigators, “This could easily have been just another unsolved killing.”
He also recognized Ellis’ testimony against Norman at trial and said Norman would likely have succeeded in having Montgomery killed, whether Ellis helped or not.
The shooter, Travell Anthony Hill, 31, was sentenced in October to 32 years in prison. Hill pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire and testified at Norman’s trial.
Waiel Rebhi “Wally” Yaghnam, Norman’s former insurance agent, was sentenced in November to three years in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Yaghnam, 44, admitted conspiring with Norman to fraudulently obtain a life insurance policy on Montgomery and then helping Norman file a claim after Montgomery’s murder.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angie Danis and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.
Woman Sentenced to 2 ½ Years in Prison for Embezzling $1.2 Million from Ralls County BusinessRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a woman to two and one-half years in prison for embezzling $1.2 million from a Ralls County, Missouri agricultural business.
Stephanie D. Carper, 51, was also ordered to repay the money she stole while exploiting her position as secretary of the company. From September 2013 to September 2019, Carper filled in her own name on at least 44 checks that had been pre-signed by the company’s owner and his relatives, Carper admitted in her guilty plea. The checks were intended to be used to pay vendors. Carper then wrote in false explanations on bank deposit slips and the check registry to conceal her thefts.
Carper used the money to buy a 2015 Nissan Murano SUV, a 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup and a Caterpillar 247 skid loader and spent more on vacations to Alaska and elsewhere. The vehicles and $31,000 in a bank account have been seized to help repay her debt.
A letter to Judge Autrey on behalf of the victims said the family sold their company for a reduced amount because a co-founder was ill and profits appeared to be falling due to Carper’s theft. Had the company books reflected their true profits, the family would have either kept the business to support the next generation or been able to sell it for more money.
“The damage done is irreparable. All that (the founders) worked for was lost with the damage that Ms. Carper did,” the letter says.
“Stephanie Carper shamelessly abused the good nature, sympathy, and trust of the owners of a family business in rural Missouri,” said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. “After being hired as a secretary, she paid the owners back by robbing them blind.”
Carper, who moved to Eufaula, Alabama, pleaded guilty in October to a felony bank fraud charge.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.
St. Louis Man Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison for Shooting up Gas StationRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Monday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri to 6 ½ years in prison for firing a shooting at a St. Louis gas station in 2021.
Jamell Sanders, 47, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Jan. 15, 2021 at the Convenience Express at 8815 North Broadway in St. Louis, he fired into the ceiling and again into bulletproof glass surrounding the register. He admitted firing the 10mm handgun again in the parking lot.
A Monday’s hearing, prosecutors said Sanders tried to get behind the counter where two employees were located, then tried to fire through the cash slot. Sanders pointed the gun at a man as Sanders left the store, then fired shots at a car outside, a sentencing memorandum says.
Police arrested Sanders when he returned to the gas station with his children. Officers recovered 12 cartridge casings at the scene.
In 1992, when he was 17 years old, an angry Sanders fired a shot that went through a bathroom window and struck a 21-month-old in the head, killing him, according to statements during Monday’s sentencing hearing. Sanders was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Still photo from a surveillance video in a sentencing memorandum from the U.S. Attorney's office.X
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Still photo from a surveillance video in a sentencing memorandum from the U.S. Attorney's office.Man Convicted of All Charges Related to One Fatal, Two Nonfatal Fentanyl OverdosesRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Friday found a man who provided the fentanyl that caused one fatal and two nonfatal overdoses in St. Charles, Missouri in 2020 guilty of all charges.
Ledra A. Craig, 46, of Wright City, was found guilty of a fentanyl conspiracy charge, two counts of distribution of fentanyl causing serious bodily injury for the non-fatal overdoses, one count of distribution of fentanyl with death resulting and one count of fentanyl distribution for the sale to an undercover police officer.
“Ledra Craig was selling fentanyl, one of the deadliest drugs known to man,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman told jurors in closing arguments Friday morning.
Just before 7 a.m. on August 2, 2020, Craig provided fentanyl to one man, referred to in court documents as “L.T.,” in the bathroom of the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, according to court statements and evidence. Minutes later, the man collapsed in a lobby. When emergency responders arrived, L.T. was breathing just four to six times per minute and had to be revived with two doses of Narcan.
After leaving L.T., Craig showed a bag containing fentanyl to another man, R.P., in an elevator, then sold him the drug in the parking garage. Craig had approached R.P. and his friend in the casino and offered to sell them cocaine and R.P. believed that cocaine is what he was buying.
About 40 minutes later, R.P. and N.B. were spotted in a car in a neighborhood a few blocks from R.P.’s house. Authorities were called when the car rolled forward onto someone’s lawn. Both men had overdosed. N.B. was revived with Narcan. R.P. was blue, had no pulse and was not breathing. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Investigators quickly identified Craig as the man seen in the casino with the overdose victims, and an undercover officer bought fentanyl from Craig later that day in a transaction that was recorded on video. After his arrest, Craig admitted selling fentanyl to R.P. and admitted conspiring to sell fentanyl that summer.
At sentencing April 24, Craig faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life.
The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Samantha Reitz are prosecuting the case.
Jefferson County Chiropractor Admits $3.5 Million Dollar Health Care, Disability FraudRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A chiropractor from Jefferson County, Missouri on Thursday admitted that he falsely claimed to have a medical license and exaggerated patients’ medical conditions so they would fraudulently receive more than $3.5 million in disability payments from the Social Security Administration and private disability benefit insurers.
Thomas G. Hobbs, 65, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to a conspiracy charge and admitted conspiring to commit the crimes of health care fraud, making false statements, theft of government funds and Social Security fraud.
Hobbs, the co-owner of Power-Med Inc., a chiropractic clinic in Arnold, Missouri, admitted that he falsely claimed to have a medical license. Despite his lack of a medical license, between 2011 and 2019 he purchased and dispensed prescription medications, administered injections and dispensed medications intravenously to patients. Hobbs admitted in his plea agreement that he knew he was not permitted to administer injections because the Missouri Board of Chiropractic Examiners placed him on probation for five years for fraudulently billing insurance companies for unlawfully administering injections.
Beginning in 2011, Hobbs also fraudulently assisted patients in receiving disability benefit payments through the Social Security Administration’s Disability Trust Fund and through private disability benefit insurance providers.
Hobbs charged patients between $2,000 and $8,600 to prepare disability forms and coach them to lie to the Social Security Administration and insurers about their ability to perform basic activities such as lifting, standing, walking, sitting, remembering and taking care of their personal needs.
Hobbs also used a fictitious medical license number to buttress patients’ disability claims so that his medical determinations would be given greater weight than those of medical experts evaluating the claims on behalf of the Social Security Administration and private disability benefit insurers. To further bolster his misrepresentations, Hobbs submitted false and fraudulent medical reports to give the appearance that he had a long history with the patients. Hobbs submitted or caused to be submitted false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to health care benefit programs for services that were not provided, medically unnecessary services or services provided by unqualified persons to make it appear that the disability patients had medical conditions. Those procedures included MRIs, CT scans and cardiovascular studies. He also submitted numerous claims for office visits when he had not provided the required face-to-face evaluation and management services to the patients.
Hobbs admitted the losses to the Social Security Administration and private insurers exceeded $3.5 million.
Hobbs is the seventh of ten individuals indicted in the case in 2020 to plead guilty.
Hobbs is scheduled to be sentenced April 19. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for each count, a fine of $250,000, or both. Both sides have agreed to recommend a four-year prison term. Hobbs will also be ordered to repay the money.
The cases were investigated by the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Berry, Dorothy McMurtry Diane Klocke and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.
Anyone who suspects fraud involving the Disability Insurance Benefit Program is asked to contact the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General Hotline at: 1-800-269-0271 or https://oig.ssa.gov/report/.
Man Accused of Aiding the Carjacking of St. Louis Sheriff’s DeputyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from East St. Louis, Illinois was arrested Wednesday on an indictment that accuses him of a role in the carjacking of a uniformed St. Louis Sheriff’s deputy in November.
Montez L. Montgomery, 18, was indicted November 16 on one count of carjacking and one count of possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. He appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday.
The indictment alleges Montgomery aided and abetted others in the carjacking of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruz and possessed the firearm used in the carjacking.
A detention motion says Montgomery provided the gun to two juveniles “for the express purposes of completing a carjacking in St. Louis.” It also says Montgomery discarded the deputy’s personal items, hid the carjacked vehicle and was later caught in it, with the gun used in the crime.
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 carjacking charge carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison, and the firearm charge carries a penalty of seven years to life in prison consecutive to any other charge.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
St. Louis Man Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Prison for Four Armed RobberiesRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Tuesday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri to 17 ½ years in prison for four armed robberies during one month in the summer of 2020.
Louquincy Carr, 37, pleaded guilty in September to four robbery charges, one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of brandishing a firearm during a robbery. He admitted the armed robbery of the T-Mobile store at 3630 South Grand Boulevard on July 24 and August 4 of 2020, a Boost Mobile store at 3706 South Grand Boulevard on Aug. 14, 2020 and a Wingstop restaurant at 3626 South Grand Boulevard on Aug. 25, 2020.
During the July 24 robbery, Carr poured a bottle of hand sanitizer over the store’s counter and ordered the clerk to take off his shirt and wipe away any fingerprints, according to Carr’s guilty plea. But Carr’s fingerprints were later found by police on the sanitizer bottle.
During the August 14 robbery, he demanded money at gunpoint from two employees, stole cash from the register and took about 15 new cell phones from the store.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinksi.
St. Louis Sex Offender Caught in Online Sex StingRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri was arrested by the FBI Friday on a federal charge that accuses him of being caught in an online sex sting.
James Wessley Rankin, 46, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday with one count of transfer of obscene material to a minor.
An affidavit filed in support of the complaint says Rankin responded to a posting on an anonymous chat site by an undercover detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in California. Rankin, using the screen name “Lonely Nerd,” struck up a conversation with the detective, who was pretending to be a 14-year-old girl. Rankin sent the “teen” an obscene picture and began making plans to pick her up from her home, the affidavit says.
Rankin is listed on Missouri’s sex offender registry after being found guilty in Greene County Circuit Court of first-degree statutory rape, the affidavit says. He was sentenced in March 2021, to five years in prison. He was also found guilty in Christian County Circuit Court of endangering the welfare of a child and domestic assault in 2019 and sentenced to probation and shock incarceration time.
At the time of his arrest, Rankin was living at a locked transition house in St. Louis that allowed him passes to go to work during the day, the affidavit says.
Rankin appeared in court Friday and has been ordered jailed.
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.
The case was investigated by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.
St. Louis Man Convicted of 2021 Carjacking SpreeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday convicted a man of all charges connected to a series of carjackings and a home invasion in May of 2021.
Jurors deliberated less than two hours before convicting Drew Clark, 37, of three counts of carjacking, three counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.
Clark, of the 4000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, started by stealing a man’s Jeep Cherokee at Union Station in St. Louis on May 22, 2021 as the victim was unloading the vehicle, according to evidence presented at trial. Inside was the man’s 9mm handgun.
Four days later, Clark committed a series of crimes in less than four hours, often discarding items he’d previously stolen and stealing new clothing, vehicles and other items.
“This was an absolute rampage,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen told jurors during closing arguments Friday morning.
Just before noon on May 26, 2021, Clark left the first victim’s Jeep near a commercial business in the 3700 block of South 1st Street and stole a white Dodge Ram belonging to the business. One worker tried to block Clark in with his own truck, until Clark aimed the stolen handgun at him and forced him to move out of the way.
About 30 minutes later, Clark burglarized a home in the 2700 block of South 13th Street, taking a wallet and debit card, a set of keys and running shoes and leaving behind the Dodge Ram and work boots. He unsuccessfully tried to use the debit card, then tossed it in a dumpster behind a nearby deli.
Shortly thereafter, in the same block, he entered the home of a woman and demanded money at gunpoint. He stole her keys and her Jeep Cherokee, leaving the terrified woman zip-tied in her bathroom.
At roughly 1:30 p.m., he left the Jeep in the 1100 block of South 7th Street, along with a blue jacket he had been wearing. He put on a safety vest and helmet stolen from the woman’s home and walked towards the Purina facility just south of downtown. After wandering around the grounds and buildings and changing into clothing he stole from an employee’s locker, he carjacked a Subaru Impreza from a different employee who was on his way to happy hour.
He left the Subaru in the 1600 block of South 9th Street, leaving behind a Purina vest, temporary contractor badge and radio in the Subaru.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted him nearby. Clark fled on foot, running through another victim’s home before officers were able to catch and subdue him. He had the stolen handgun and a backpack containing an unused zip tie, keys from Purina and items from the Jeep stolen at Union Station: a business card, gift card envelopes and a charging plug.
At sentencing later this year, Clark faces up to 15 years in prison on the carjacking charges, up to ten years in prison on the stolen gun charge and seven years to life in prison for each brandishing charge, consecutive to the other charges, for a total of at least 21 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen and Jennifer Szczucinski are prosecuting the case.
Missouri Man Admits Raping Runaway TeenRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from Mexico, Missouri on Thursday admitted repeatedly raping a 13-year-old runaway on a trip to Las Vegas.
Jacob D. Burney, 24, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to a charge of transportation of a minor to engage in a criminal sex act.
Burney admitted becoming involved in a relationship with a 13-year-old in 2021. Sometime before Dec. 8, 2021, the victim ran away from home to be with Burney. The teen was reported missing, and Homeland Security Investigations received a National Hotline Tip on Dec. 14, 2021 about the missing teen.
Burney switched vehicles and left Missouri to prevent law enforcement officers from finding the teen. They traveled first to Illinois and then to Las Vegas. During the trip, Burney provided drugs and alcohol to the teen and committed the crime of statutory rape repeatedly, he admitted in his plea agreement.
Burney is scheduled to be sentenced April 12. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Collins 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 Man Sentenced to 5+ Years in Prison on Drug/Gun ChargeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS –U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a man who fled from police in a stolen car after a shooting and a gun sale to five years and 10 months in prison.
Michael Joseph Monroe sold a 9mm pistol for $325 to a confidential informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on August 21, 2019 near the Dellwood Market.
Investigators then learned that shortly before the gun deal, the passenger of a car matching the description of Monroe’s stolen Audi A6 fired multiple shots at another car on westbound Interstate 270 near Old Halls Ferry Road. The victim’s vehicle was hit six times, including three times directly underneath the left driver’s side door, but the victim was not injured.
Monroe suspected he was being followed by the police or a rival drug dealer, and told his passenger, Treyvon Perry, to fire at the other car, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors.
Police located the Audi and Monroe fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph before he crashed about 12 miles later.
Police found fentanyl, cocaine base, oxycodone and a mixture of other drugs in the car, as well as a single bullet. They believed Perry discarded his gun during the chase.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa told Judge Schelp Thursday that Monroe had repeatedly been caught with drugs or drug paraphernalia, both before and after his federal indictment.
Judge Schelp told Monroe, “This behavior was out of control,” before sentencing him.
Monroe, 25, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which was possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
Judge Schelp sentenced Treyvon Perry, then 20, to five years in prison in October on one count of conspiracy to possess and discharge a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.
Missouri Man Sentenced to 7+ Years in Prison for Attempted Robbery of Convenience StoreRead the Press Release
CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Wednesday sentenced a man from Steele, Missouri who tried to rob a convenience store to seven years and 10 months in prison.
Mark Jones, 39, pleaded guilty to an attempted robbery charge in October. Charging documents say he tried to rob the Smokers Cloud convenience store in Caruthersville, Missouri on May 7 while in possession of a firearm. Jones was masked and wearing a Tyvek suit at the time.
Jones fled when the clerk, who was armed, fired a shot to protect himself and the store’s patrons, according to court documents.
The case was investigated by the Caruthersville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton prosecuted the case.
St. Louis Man Caught with Two Fully Automatic Glocks Charged with Gun CrimeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri caught with two illegally modified, fully automatic Glock handguns and suspected narcotics has been charged with a federal gun crime.
Courtlend D. Green, 25, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is in custody and is scheduled to appeal in federal court Tuesday.
An affidavit filed in support of the complaint says St. Louis Metropolitan Department officers were told that Green, a documented gang member, was selling narcotics. Police spotted Green and surrounded him in his parked car, deploying spike strips. Green drove off and crashed into an occupied vehicle a short distance away and then fled on foot before he was arrested, the affidavit says.
Police found two Glock handguns modified with conversion devices, also known as switches, that make them fully automatic, the affidavit says. One had a drum magazine containing 41 rounds and the other had a 20-round extended magazine. Police also found suspected narcotics. Green was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in St. Louis Circuit Court in 2022 and is therefore not permitted to possess a firearm, the affidavit says.
Federal and state officials at a news conference Thursday warned of Glock switches and the dangerous trend of an increase in conversion devices being used and found in the St. Louis area and around the country.
Christopher Beavers, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Thursday that the ATF has seen a 500% increase in the number conversion devices recovered as part of criminal investigations across the country.
Lt. Col. Michael Sack of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, said the crime lab has seen a similar large increase in the number of Glock switches seized and analyzed, with one in 2019, one in 2020, 27 in 2022 and three in the first five days of 2023 alone.
Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's office.U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming said, “Our office is taking this extremely seriously and we will use all of the statutes and all the punishment provisions that we have available to us.”
“Under federal law, the mere possession of the device is punishable by up to 10 years in prison,” Fleming said, even if not installed in or on a firearm.
But Fleming also cautioned that if a firearm with a conversion device is used while committing a serious drug offense or a crime of violence as defined by federal law, “you’re going to be looking at… not less than 30 years imprisonment. And let me add that that is consecutive to any other sentence you may receive.”
Fleming said a Glock with a conversion device was used to fatally shoot 16-year-old Terrion Smith in downtown St. Louis in March.
Officers are also seeing more high-capacity magazines being used with the firearms.
“These things are dangerous to our officers because of the rate of fire of these weapons,” Sack said. “They are also dangerous to everybody in the neighborhood because of their inaccuracy.”
A fully automatic pistol is difficult to control and “inherently dangerous,” he said.
Both Beavers and Sack said the devices also frequently malfunction.
Sack also said that there were 66 ShotSpotter reports of fully automatic gunfire in St. Louis in 2021 and 339 through December 12th of 2022. St. Louis County has seen similar increases, as the weapons move frequently between jurisdictions.
Green also faces drug, weapon and other charges in St. Louis Circuit Court.
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.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
St. Louis County Business Owner Admits $231,100 Pandemic Loan FraudRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A business owner from St. Louis County, Missouri on Tuesday admitted a role in fraudulently applying for pandemic-related loans totaling $231,100.
Joe C. Cohen Jr., 66, of Bel Ridge, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry to two felony counts of theft of government property.
Cohen admitted providing his personal information to someone who submitted applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans for two of Cohen’s businesses with falsified information, overstating the revenue and number of employees for the businesses. The loans were intended to help business owners struggling with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cohen knew that this person was going to submit the applications, and deposited the resulting loan money, $110,000 in one loan and $121,100 in the other, into his checking accounts, according to his guilty plea. He then transferred a portion of the money to the man who applied for the loans.
Cohen was indicted in October. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 14 and could face up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. He will also be ordered to repay the money.
The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke is prosecuting the case.
Retired St. Louis Priest Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a retired St. Louis priest who created PowerPoint presentations containing child pornography to five years in prison.
Judge Schelp also ordered James T. Beighlie, 72, to pay $4,750 in restitution to one of the victims portrayed in the child pornography, and $22,000 in special assessments that will go towards other victims of crimes involving children. After his release from prison, he will be on supervised release for life.
Beighlie possessed 6,000 images containing child sexual abuse material on one computer, including about 3,000 images containing child pornography and 2,992 images of child erotica. Beighlie created two PowerPoint presentations with graphic titles that linked to thousands of the images, and often visited and edited the presentations over a period of years. Another computer had 236 images and 40 videos containing child sexual abuse material.
“It’s depressing and sickening to know that people were looking at images and videos of my online sexual abuse when I was a little girl and that they were getting pleasure from it – my abuse,” wrote one of the victims in a letter to Judge Schelp.
Beighlie had been looking at child sexual abuse material since at least 2008, Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang said in court, and revised his PowerPoint presentations more than 200 times. “This criminal conduct was part of his daily life,” Lang said.
On May 17, 2021, while he was working at the Congregation of the Mission in St. Louis, colleagues found compromising images of Beighlie on a church printer.
The church launched an internal investigation. When a private IT support company found what appeared to be videos of minors engaging in sex acts, an attorney for the church contacted the FBI.
Beighlie pleaded guilty in October to two counts of possession of child pornography.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang 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.
University City Business Owner Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Pandemic, Bank FraudRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Friday sentenced a University City, Missouri business owner to 30 months in prison and ordered him to repay $650,000 that he reaped from bank and pandemic-related fraud.
Le Mell Harlston, 36, used the Social Security number assigned to a minor from the Kansas City, Missouri area and a number that had not been assigned to anyone to apply for loans and lines of credit at credit unions and banks.
After Harlston’s indictment in January of 2021, investigators learned that he had applied for a series of Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans offered under the CARES Act. Those loans were intended to help business owners negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Harlston applied for EIDL funding for four companies registered to him in July 2020 but used another minor’s Social Security number on the application.
Harlston, using his own Social Security number, also received multiple PPP loans in February 2021 after certifying that he was only applying for one loan. He applied for two PPP loans after being arraigned in federal court and lied when asked on the applications whether he was under indictment.
In all, Harlston caused a loss of $653,332, including $551,830 in CARES Act funds.
Harlston pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in August to five counts of bank fraud and nine counts of misuse of a Social Security number.
“The sentence holds Mr. Harlston accountable for his criminal acts of misusing multiple Social Security numbers to defraud several financial institutions and creditors, as well as to fraudulently obtain CARES Act funds. My office will continue working with our law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of Social Security numbers,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration.
U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming said, “This case is one of almost four dozen pandemic fraud-related cases that are being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s office. We are continuing to aggressively prosecute these cases. Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.”
The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke prosecuted the case.
St. Charles County Man Sentenced to 4+ Years in Prison for Downloading and Sharing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Friday sentenced a man from St. Peters, Missouri to four and one-half years in prison for downloading and sharing child pornography via a variety of social media apps.
Eric S. Crews, 38, will be on supervised release for life after his release from prison.
Crews used social media, including Kik Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp and TamTam, to send and receive child pornography. When Crews uploaded 14 files containing child sexual abuse material to Kik Messenger on Nov. 11, 2020 and shared them with at least one other Kik user, it triggered an alert to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to Crews’ plea agreement. After a court-approved search of Crews’ home by St. Charles County police on June 15, 2021, investigators found at least 5,400 images and 610 videos containing child pornography on Crews’ Apple iPhone.
Crews pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in October to a charge of possession of child pornography.
The St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force and the FBI investigated this 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 Man Accused of Murder During Fentanyl ConspiracyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday and accused of a fatal shooting in November linked to the distribution of fentanyl.
Terrell Donta McDaniel, 41, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of murder through the use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.
The indictment accuses McDaniel of discharging a firearm on November 2 resulting in the premeditated murder of Andre Nash.
An affidavit filed with a criminal complaint on December 7 says McDaniel shot Nash over a drug debt in the 4100 block of Clara Place in St. Louis and then dumped the body in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood in St. Louis.
The fentanyl conspiracy charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both. The firearm charge is punishable by a sentence of up to life in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.
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 case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.
Franklin County Woman Sentenced to Two More Years in Prison for Committing Pandemic Loan Fraud After $727,000 EmbezzlementRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a woman from Franklin County, Missouri to two more years in prison for fraudulently applying for three Paycheck Protection Program loans after she had pleaded guilty to an unrelated $727,000 embezzlement case.
Judge Schelp on Wednesday called Christen Diane Schulte’s conduct “outrageous” and “very aggravating.”
Schulte, now 37, had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing on the embezzlement case in the spring of 2021 when she fraudulently applied for three PPP loans, designed to help save small businesses and jobs from economic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schulte lied on the loans when asked if she was facing or had been convicted of a felony, and when asked the same question about a felony involving fraud, bribery, embezzlement or a false statement in an application for a loan or for federal assistance.
She also lied about the gross income for the “Mama Bear Cake Company.”
One application for a $13,691 loan was rejected due to her criminal history. A $13,566 loan was approved by a different financial institution. She then sought and received a “second draw” of $13,566 from that company, receiving the money on May 19, 2021.
Eight days later, Schulte was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison and ordered to repay $517,140 in the embezzlement case. She pleaded guilty in 2020 to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering and admitted embezzling funds from her employer and other individuals and entities associated with her employer.
Schulte pleaded guilty in September to three more counts of bank fraud in the new case. She was also ordered on Wednesday to repay the loan money.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.
Former St. Louis-Area Union Employee Indicted for EmbezzlementRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A former employee of a St. Louis, Missouri area union appeared in court Wednesday to face a federal charge accusing her of embezzling nearly $20,000 from her union.
Tina Metrolis, 54, was indicted September 28 on one felony count of embezzlement from a labor union. She was arrested December 16 in the Southern District of Mississippi and appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday to plead not guilty to the charge.
The indictment alleges that Metrolis, while officer manager of Stage and Picture Operators IATSE Local 6, took the money from roughly February through December of 2019. She wrote about $19,533 worth of checks to herself and covered up the theft by altering accounting records, the indictment says. Her actions caused another $6,412 in losses due to penalties and interest on tax liabilities that were not paid during her tenure, the indictment says.
In 2020, Local 6 represented approximately 167 members who work for various theater production companies serving the greater St. Louis region and has collective bargaining agreements with approximately 30 employers.
The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.
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 case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Dowd III is prosecuting the case.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $16 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2022Read the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming announced today that the Eastern District of Missouri collected $16,069,243 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $10,414,823 was collected in criminal actions and $5,654,419 was collected in civil actions.
“The Eastern District of Missouri’s Financial Litigation Unit aggressively pursues money owed both to victims of crimes and the taxpayers,” said Fleming. “In addition, three days after the end of this fiscal year, the unit obtained a voluntary payment of $3,056,159 more from Anthony Swiantek, one of 20 defendants who admitted participating in a telemarketing fraud that targeted elderly victims.”
The payment satisfies the remaining balance of the over $4.2 million in restitution ordered by the court in Swiantek’s 2016 criminal case. After the Financial Litigation Unit suspected that Swiantek was concealing assets, the unit began pursuing Swiantek’s various assets, including his cryptocurrency. The unit issued multiple subpoenas and filed garnishments for Swiantek’s bank account, life insurance policy and individual retirement account, triggering Swiantek’s voluntary payment in exchange for releasing those garnishments.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the Justice Department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and assistance programs.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Missouri, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $5,451,628 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2022. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
St. Louis Man Admits Attempted Robbery of SupermarketRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri on Thursday admitted trying to rob a St. Louis supermarket at gunpoint in 2019.
Michael Chambers, 54, pleaded guilty by Zoom in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel to one felony count of attempted robbery. He admitted approaching a store clerk at the Fields Foods on Lafayette Avenue in St. Louis on Nov. 23, 2019, brandishing a firearm and demanding the money in the cash register. The clerk refused and Chambers left the store. The attempted robbery was captured by the store surveillance cameras.
Chambers is scheduled to be sentenced March 22. Prosecutors and Chambers’ lawyer have agreed to recommend a sentence of 10 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Christian Goeke is prosecuting the case.
Courtesy of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.St. Louis County Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Fentanyl ConspiracyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a St. Louis County, Missouri man involved in a fentanyl distribution ring to 20 years in prison.
Anthony “Peta Man” Caldwell, 27, was the final defendant to be sentenced out of 11 people who distributed multiple kilograms of fentanyl in the St. Louis area over the course of the conspiracy, which began at least as far back as January 2018.
Caldwell was also identified as the man who used a semi-automatic rifle to shoot a woman in her car on Interstate 70 in St. Louis on April 30, 2019, sparking the FBI to begin investigating, according to court filings.
The investigation, which also involved the Drug Enforcement Administration, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department, would eventually uncover a drug ring that was supplied by an Arizona man charged in a different case. That man supplied fentanyl to Caldwell’s co-defendants, Kevin White and Maricus Futrell, through the use of couriers or by mailing packages of fentanyl. White and Futrell then supplied Caldwell and others.
Caldwell was responsible for between 1.2 and 4 kilos of fentanyl as part of the conspiracy, court records show, and the whole conspiracy was responsible for 12 kilograms. Caldwell supplied other conspirators and sold the drug in the Fairgrounds Park neighborhood of St. Louis.
Investigators recovered fentanyl, cash, assault rifles, handguns and a stolen Dodge Charger during the case.
White, 29, of St. Louis County, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Futrell, 22, of St. Louis County, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in a related case.
Caldwell was shot in the head shortly before he was arrested in connection with the case, according to court records and testimony. He pleaded guilty in August to a drug conspiracy charge.
Photo provided by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.Man Sentenced to 28+ Years for Two St. Louis CarjackingsRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a man who carjacked two people in 2021, including a grandmother and her granddaughter, to 28 years and 10 months in prison.
Darius Eubanks, 28, first stole a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu at gunpoint at a north St. Louis grocery store on the afternoon of June 27, 2021. He then unsuccessfully tried to kidnap someone at gunpoint before crashing the stolen vehicle at Labadie Avenue and North Sarah Street in north St. Louis.
Eubanks abandoned that vehicle and walked to a nearby market, where he pistol-whipped a woman who was placing her granddaughter into a 2005 Hyundai Sonata, knocking the woman to the ground. As the woman struggled to get her granddaughter out of the car, Eubanks began driving off.
Less than 30 minutes later, Eubanks was caught by police near his home in the 5000 block of Palm Avenue with a gun and the grandmother’s car keys.
In court Wednesday, the grandmother said she and her granddaughter were traumatized and that she would “never forgive” Eubanks.
Eubanks pleaded guilty in September to two carjacking charges and a charge of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.
Man Sentenced to 18+ Years in Prison for Selling Fatal Dose of Fentanyl to St. Peters WomanRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a man who sold the fentanyl that killed a St. Peters, Missouri woman in 2020 to 18 years and four months in prison.
Nathan Matson, 27, of O’Fallon, Missouri, met with the victim in the driveway of her home on July 4, 2020 and sold her ten capsules containing fentanyl for $100.
When the victim contacted Matson to ask him what he sold her, Matson lied and said it was morphine, according to a sentencing memorandum. Knowing that she was in distress, Matson could have contacted the victim’s family or called 911 but did not.
The woman’s mother discovered her daughter dead in her bedroom the next day.
The St. Peters Police Department investigated and both Matson and his co-defendant, Jason Post, admitted their role to police.
In court Wednesday, the victim’s sister said Matson, “took advantage of someone who trusted him.” She said her sister would still be alive if she’d never met Matson.
The victim’s mother said, “I can’t understand why Nathan Matson would give my daughter a drug that would kill her and drive away, knowing what was going to happen.”
The sentencing memo says Matson tested positive for opiates 25 times since he was charged, suggesting he must have been selling fentanyl to support his own drug addiction even after the 2020 death.
Matson pleaded guilty in August to a fentanyl distribution charge.
Post, 30, of O’Fallon, Missouri, pleaded guilty in February to aiding and abetting in the distribution fentanyl and was sentenced in July to eight years in prison. He drove Matson to St. Louis to purchase the fentanyl, and then drove Matson to the victim’s house. He was rewarded with five capsules of fentanyl.
“Poisonings involving opioids jumped to more than 80,000 last year and are the leading cause of death for those ages 18 to 45,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration division that leads DEA investigations in Missouri. "The gravity of this problem is one reason the DEA and our law enforcement partners, like the St. Peters Police Department, take these investigations so seriously and why long sentences are appropriate.”
The St. Peters Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case.
St. Louis Man Accused of Manufacturing Fake Vehicle Temporary TagsRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis was arrested Thursday on an indictment that accuses him of manufacturing and selling fake temporary vehicle license tags.
Mario C. Cooks, 34, was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday on six felony counts of fraudulent transfer of an authentication feature. The indictment says Cooks used a fake watermark and seal of the Missouri Department of Revenue on temporary motor vehicle license tags produced between June 28 and December 6.
In a court-approved search Thursday morning of Cooks’ home in the 5300 block of Claxton Avenue, the United States Secret Service, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Charles Police Department and the Missouri Department of Revenue seized computer equipment, counterfeit temporary motor vehicle documents and counterfeit motor vehicle titles.
In an affidavit filed to obtain the search warrant, an agent of the U.S. Secret Service said the investigation began when police in St. Charles learned that Cooks was offering fraudulent temporary motor vehicle tags as well as a fraudulent license plate that appeared to have been issued by the State of Missouri to a licensed car dealership. An undercover police officer then purchased a series of fraudulent temporary motor vehicle tags and automobile insurance cards from Cooks, the affidavit says.
“The people using these temporary tags are not just those trying to avoid paying their taxes. Some are using them to conceal their possession of stolen vehicles or to thwart their identification while committing crimes,” said St. Charles Police Chief Ray Juengst. “This is a great example of collaboration between agencies that will have a positive impact throughout the metro area.”
“This arrest disrupted a sophisticated criminal enterprise designed to defraud the State of Missouri,” said Thomas Landry, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s St. Louis Field Office. “I commend the exceptional work of our partners and emphasize our agency’s ongoing commitment to combatting fraud at every level.”
Cook’s federal charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
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 case was investigated by the St. Charles Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Missouri Department of Revenue. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.
Former St. Louis County High School Counselor Sentenced to 15 Years for Sex, Inappropriate Conduct with StudentsRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced a former St. Louis County, Missouri high school counselor who had sexual contact with one student and inappropriate contact with nine others to 15 years in prison.
After James Q. Jenkins, 38, is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for life and will have to register as a sex offender.
In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said Jenkins executed a “carefully orchestrated web of manipulation” that lasted months, and used students’ religious beliefs or past sexual abuse to prey on them.
She pointed out that Jenkins had been placed on administrative leave and counseled by a prior school for inappropriate behavior with students and sought a job at a third school even after his offenses in St. Louis County came to light in the summer of 2021.
In a letter about Jenkins to Judge White, the mother of one victim wrote, “He was supposed to be helping our seniors map out colleges to help them into the next step of their educational path. Instead, he was manipulating and grooming our girls for his pleasure while traumatizing them for life at the same time.” The mother added that her daughter wanted to attend the sentencing hearing but “couldn't handle the emotional turmoil from it.”
Jenkins pleaded guilty in September to two felonies, coercion and enticement of a minor and transfer of obscene material to minors, and admitted engaging in a pattern of inappropriate activity with multiple students between Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 1, 2021.
Jenkins contacted a 15-year-old student on her personal cell phone and via social media, his plea agreement says. Jenkins told her that he was very sexual, requested nude pictures and sent her nude pictures. He claimed he loved her and told her he wanted to have sex with her.
Jenkins complimented the body of a second teen and told her that he wanted to engage in phone sex with her.
Jenkins communicated with a third teen in a sexual manner, sent her nude pictures of himself and requested pictures in return. He also engaged in sexual conduct with the teen while she was a student, on occasion leaving school early to do so. The girl originally began meeting with Jenkins for counseling because of challenges at home.
Jenkins brought up inappropriate topics with a fourth student, arranged to smoke marijuana with her and asked her to teach him a “sensual” dance.
About six more students told authorities that Jenkins made comments about their bodies, communicated with them on their personal cellular telephones and social media accounts, tried to make plans with them outside of school, showed them sexual videos, called them by pet names and touched them in a manner that was inappropriate and uncomfortable.
One teen told other counselors that Jenkins took off his shirt on a Zoom call and touched himself after telling her to share details about when she was molested.
The St. Louis County Police Department investigated this 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.
Texas Man Admits $1.2 Million Romance Scam Targeting St. Louis WomanRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – On Monday, a man from Texas admitted targeting a St. Louis woman in a $1.2 million romance scam.
Rotimi Oladimeji, 37, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel to two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. He admitted in his plea obtaining or trying to obtain more than $1.2 million from the woman.
Oladimeji admitted that in May of 2019, someone in Nigeria created a fake LinkedIn profile of a veterinarian and animal behaviorist who was purportedly a Belgian national living in St. Louis. They used a picture of a German man.
In August of that year, a St. Louis woman created an online dating profile. Several months later, Oladimeji and others began communicating with the victim, using the Belgian identity. The perpetrators of the fraud made plans to meet the victim, but never followed through. On one occasion, they left her waiting at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Oladimeji then told the victim that the Belgian was taking a business trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One day after his alleged arrival, Oladimeji texted the victim, claiming that he needed help with “an urgent business issue,” and $15,000, the plea says. That began a pattern of texts requesting electronic transfers of cash from the victim between October 2019 and March of 2020. In total, the victim sent or attempted to send $931,000 to her scammers in a mistaken belief that the Belgian would not be permitted to leave Dubai unless she paid, the plea says.
Oladimeji also had the victim send cash and cashier’s checks via FedEx to the Texas home of his co-defendant, Olumide Akrinmade, 37, of Richardson, Texas, his plea says. Oladimeji admitted recruiting Akinrinmade and Adewale Adesanya, another Texas resident, to receive the finds, the plea says, in exchange for a cut of the money.
The victim sent about $314,000 to Texas that way, the plea says.
Oladimeji admitted taking part of the money for his role in the scam. The majority went to other scammers in Nigeria and the United States, the plea says.
The scam began to unravel on February 3, 2021, when Oladimeji returned to the United States from a trip to Nigeria. Upon his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, Homeland Security Investigations agents inspected two phones belonging to Oladimeji and discovered text messages from and to his victim.
Each count to which Oladimeji pleaded guilty carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both. Oladimeji is scheduled to be sentenced in March 23. He will also be ordered to repay the money, and could face deportation.
Akinrinmade’s case is pending. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud.
Adesanya pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Dallas in April and was sentenced in September to four years in prison. He was also ordered to repay $1.5 million that resulted from various frauds.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.
For information about how to spot and guard against romance scams, go to ice.gov/features/romance-scams.
East St. Louis Man Admits Attacking Park Rangers on Arch GroundsRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from East St. Louis on Monday admitted assaulting Park Rangers in an incident that began on the grounds of the Gateway Arch National Park.
Antione Lamont Hawkins, 38, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry to two counts of assaulting an officer.
Hawkins admitted that on Feb. 28, 2021, Park Rangers made a lawful traffic stop of a vehicle in the Old Cathedral parking lot. Hawkins was in the driver’s seat. An open beer bottle was in the vehicle and an open beer carton was in the backseat.
Hawkins gave his name to the rangers but refused to provide identification and refused to keep his hands on the steering wheel before becoming confrontational. He admitted that he had been drinking.
When rangers tried to handcuff Hawkins, he struggled and resisted, stomping on one ranger’s foot and kicking him in the leg. When rangers tried to put him in a patrol vehicle, he kicked a ranger in the face.
During a struggle in jail, Hawkins grabbed a different ranger by the throat.
At his sentencing March 23, Hawkins could face up to eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both on each count.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is prosecuting the case.
Man Who Sparked St. Louis Police Chase Charged with Gun CrimeRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man who led St. Louis police on a high-speed chase Thursday was charged Friday with a federal gun crime.
Anthony L. Rogers, 35, of St. Louis, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The criminal complaint says the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was looking for Rogers, and a GMC Yukon SUV that he was driving, in connection with a November 30 homicide in St. Louis. Police spotted the Yukon Thursday in St. Louis and officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the complaint says. Rogers refused to pull over and instead drove away, the complaint says.
Police followed Rogers into St. Louis County, where he threw a Glock 9mm pistol out of the window, and then north on Interstate 55 into St. Louis, where he discarded the pistol’s magazine, the complaint says. The pursuit continued through downtown St. Louis and onto westbound Interstate 70. Rogers exited the interstate at Riverview Boulevard and pulled to the curb, where he was arrested, the complaint says
The firearm charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen is prosecuting the case.
Two Accused of St. Louis CarjackingRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – Two men from East St. Louis, Illinois have been accused of a St. Louis carjacking last month, using a vehicle that had been carjacked a week earlier.
Quinn Turner, 20, and Jaylen Mays, 25, were indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on one count of carjacking and one count of possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Mays was also indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The indictment says they aided and abetted each other and others known and unknown to the grand jury to steal a 2017 GMC Terrain on November 13. On that same date, Mays was in possession of a firearm despite being a convicted felon, the indictment says.
A detention motion says the GMC was stolen from a gas station at the northwest corner of Russell Boulevard and South 7th Street in the Soulard neighborhood by men in a Nissan Rogue and a Chevrolet Malibu.
Three men, including two armed men, rushed the driver of the GMC, ordered him to the ground and took his wallet and keys. All three vehicles were then driven away.
Detectives assigned to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Anti-Crime Task Force utilized spike strips to stop the Malibu. Quinn, Mays and a juvenile that matched the description of one of the armed men were inside the car with a Glock .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol, the motion says. The juvenile was in possession of the victim’s wallet and the Malibu had been taken in a carjacking in the downtown business district just a week earlier, the motion says.
The carjacking and felon in possession charges carry a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison.
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 case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin is prosecuting the case.