BENTON, Ill. – A Los Angeles man appeared in federal court Tuesday as the last of five defendants to be sentenced in a large-scale drug trafficking operation in southern Illinois.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois said Robert Smith, 42, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
Smith was part of a five-person plot to distribute more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.
Three of Smith’s co-conspirators were from Illinois, while the fourth was from St. Louis.
“Despite the attention given to fentanyl, methamphetamine remains the top drug seized by quantity in southern Illinois and is still responsible for destroying many lives,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration division that leads DEA investigations in southern Illinois, as well as Missouri and Kansas.
According to court documents, DEA agents investigated the group for distributing meth in St. Clair County between February and October 2019.
Confidential informants purchased a total of 750 grams of methamphetamine from co-conspirator William Moore on five different occasions from a restaurant in East St. Louis.
On July 9, 2019, co-conspirator Michael Greene received more than 58 grams of meth from Moore with the intention of selling the drug. The following day, DEA agents seized a package containing 6,310 grams of meth before co-conspirator Michael Huffman could retrieve the package at Moore’s behest.
On Aug. 19, 2019, DEA agents arrested co-conspirator Stacey Barkley and found her in possession of more than 100 grams of meth, which she’d received from Moore.
Prosecutors said Smith supplied more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine from California to the trafficking operation in southern Illinois, and that Moore ran the conspiracy. Moore also laundered drug money for Smith to facilitate the operation.
Moore, 39, previously pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing methamphetamine, one count of attempted possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and one count of conspiracy to launder money. He was sentenced on April 20, 2022, to 30 years in federal prison, as well as five years of supervised release.
Huffman, 37, previously pleaded guilty to one count of distributing methamphetamine, one count of attempted possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced on Oct. 27, 2022, to eight years in federal prison, as well as three years of supervised release.
Greene, 54, previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced on Feb. 9, 2023, to 25 years in federal prison, as well as four years of supervised release.
Barkley, 36, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. She was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison on Sept. 15, 2021, as well as three years of supervised release.