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Press Release

Springfield, Illinois Men Plead Guilty to Heroin Conspiracy

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 two men have pleaded guilty to their roles in a heroin trafficking conspiracy in the Springfield, Mo., area.

 

Deauntee Q. Mosby, 23, of Oak Lawn, Ill., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, to the charge contained in a September 30, 2015, federal indictment. Donald D. Johnson, 27, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to the same charge on March 30, 2016.

 

By pleading guilty, Mosby and Johnson each admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin in Greene County, Mo., between May 29, 2013, and Feb. 12, 2015.

 

Mosby and Johnson admitted that they bought heroin in the Chicago, Ill., area and had it transported in vehicles to the Springfield area for distribution. Johnson also admitted that he bought heroin in the St. Louis, Mo., area. Mosby and Johnson sold heroin to other co-conspirators.

 

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.

 

Johnson admitted that he sold heroin to an undercover law enforcement officer and a confidential informant on three occasions. On March 13, 2014, he sold .7 grams of heroin for $275 in a transaction in Springfield. On March 18, 2014, he sold 2.2 grams of heroin for $500 in a transaction in Ozark, Mo. On Feb. 12, 2015, he sold .93 grams of heroin for $270 in a transaction in Springfield.

 

Law enforcement officers searched a unit rented by Johnson and a co-conspirator at Bradford Mini Storage in Springfield on May 29, 2014. Inside the storage unit they found a Bushmaster .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle.

 

The plea agreement also contains references to telephone calls between Johnson and a co-defendant who discussed the conspiracy while she was incarcerated at the Greene County Jail.

 

Under federal statutes, Mosby and Johnson are each subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

 

This case is being 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 April 7, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking