Three men sentenced for running meth ring in Columbia
UPDATE: Three men, two of whom are from Columbia, have been sentenced in federal court to charges related to a meth ring busted by law enforcement in 2015.
Ryan Ellingboe of Columbia was sentenced to six years and eight months in federal prison without parole. Shane Callahan of Columbia was sentenced to five years in federal prison without parole. Todd Zazilenski of Phoenix, Arizona was sentenced to ten years in federal prison without parole.
ORIGINAL STORY: Two Columbia men and a Phoenix, Arizona man were federally charged for selling meth in Boone County.
40-year-old Ryan Ellingboe and 29-year-old Shane Callahan are charged with selling meth in Boone County among other locations between April and May 14, 2015. Both pleaded guilty.
40-year-old Todd Zazilenski pleaded guilty to the same charge on Thursday.
Law enforcement seized several pounds of meth on back in May.
St. Charles County deputies stopped a car driven by Ellingboe Thursday for a traffic violation, and searched the car after they smelled marijuana.
The deputy found a vacuum sealed bag containing about a pound of meth behind the glove box.
Ellingboe and Callahan told deputies they got the meth from Zazilenski, who was staying at the Howard Johnson Inn in Columbia.
Authorities found Zazilenski at the hotel and searched his room.
They found three bags each containing a pound of meth.
Zazilenski said he expected Ellingboe to return later in the cay to pay him $8,000 for the meth that he had taken to sell in St. Charles. The man also told authorities he gave Ellingboe an additional 1.5 pounds of meth in mid-April.
