Waterloo Man Arraigned On Meth Charges

On September 25, 2013, Shawn Buckley, 31, from Waterloo, IL, was arraigned in East St. Louis, Illinois, on a federal indictment charging him with one count of Conspiracy to Distribute 500 grams or more of Methamphetamine and one count of Distribution of 5 grams or more of Methamphetamine, Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today. A detention hearing is set for September 27, 2013. A jury trial is set for November 25, 2013. If convicted, Buckley faces 10 years to life in prison on the conspiracy charge and 5 to 40 years on the distribution charge. Buckley also faces fines of up to $10,000,000.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant that is comprised of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

Evidence in support of the indictment in this case was obtained in an investigation which was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF initiative is designed to bring federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and resources together to identify, target and dismantle large national and international drug trafficking organizations. Participating agencies include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division. This case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Donald S. Boyce for prosecution.