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Press Release

Illinois Man Sentenced to 32 Years for Heroin Trafficking in Springfield

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Oak Lawn, Ill., man and a Springfield, Mo., man have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a heroin trafficking conspiracy in the Springfield area.

Deauntee Q. Mosby, 24, of Oak Lawn, and Joshua C. Leamon, 26, of Springfield, were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. Mosby was sentenced to 32 years in federal prison without parole. Leamon was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.

Both Mosby and Leamon pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin in Greene County, Mo., between May 29, 2013, and Feb. 12, 2015.

Mosby admitted that he bought heroin in the Chicago, Ill., area and had it transported in vehicles to the Springfield area, where it was sold to Leamon and other co-conspirators for distribution.

Mosby was stopped by law enforcement officers on two occasions. On Aug. 28, 2013, he was the passenger in a vehicle that was stopped in Nixa, Mo. Mosby, who smelled of marijuana, was asked to get out of the vehicle. The officer searched the vehicle and found a syringe that contained heroin between the front driver and passenger seat, a digital scale with heroin residue, and $2,373 in the driver’s wallet. The officer also found a firearm in the trunk. Mosby was also stopped in Pulaski County, Mo., on Jan. 12, 2015, by a St. Robert, Mo., police officer. The officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle and arrested Mosby for an active warrant. Officers searched the vehicle and found a plastic bag behind a panel below the center console that contained 59.36 grams of heroin.

Mosby also admitted that he sold seven grams of heroin to a confidential law enforcement informant in Springfield for $1,100 on Sept. 13, 2013.

Leamon admitted that he purchased heroin from Mosby and other conspirators. He would then distribute the heroin for $30 for each tenth of a gram. Leamon sold and used approximately a quarter of an ounce of heroin per week. Leamon also admitted that he accompanied others to Chicago, St. Louis, Mo., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., to buy large amounts of heroin.

Leamon admitted that he sold a Kel-Tec 9mm semi-automatic pistol and .93 gram of heroin during an undercover drug buy with Springfield Police Department detectives and a confidential informant on Feb. 12, 2015.

Mosby and Leamon are the final defendants among seven co-defendants who have been sentenced in this case.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nhan D. Nguyen and Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

Updated February 3, 2017

Topic
Drug Trafficking