Jury Convicts St. Louis Man of Meth Trafficking
Officers Seized 31 Pounds of Meth from Luggage at Bus Station
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Louis man traveling by bus from Los Angeles has been convicted in a federal jury trial of possessing methamphetamine to distribute after more than 31 pounds of methamphetamine was found in his luggage at a Kansas City, Mo., bus station.
Cregg L. Matthews, 56, was found guilty on Tuesday, June 6, of one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Matthews has been detained in federal custody without bail since his arrest on March 9, 2019.
Law enforcement officers were conducting drug interdiction activities at a local bus station at about 10:27 p.m. Saturday, March 9, 2019. A bus arrived from Los Angeles en route to St. Louis, and a Kansas City, Mo., police detective used a service canine to check the luggage under the bus in the luggage bins. When all the passengers were off the bus, they also checked the luggage in the passenger compartment.
The police service canine alerted to Matthews’s suitcase, which was in the overhead bin above his seat on the bus. Matthews was carrying a black bag when he was contacted to which the police service canine also later alerted.
When investigators searched the black bag Matthews was carrying, they found 10 bundles of methamphetamine that weighed a total of 10 pounds and some marijuana. In the suitcase retrieved from the bus, investigators found 16 bundles of methamphetamine that weighed a total of 21.6 pounds.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., returned a guilty verdict to U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips, ending a trial that began Monday, June 5.
Under federal statutes, Matthews is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life 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. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri Highway Patrol, and MoWIN (the Missouri Western Interdiction and Narcotics Task Force).
