Key people in mid-Missouri drug ring sentenced

Several of the major players in a mid-Missouri drug ring are heading to federal prison.

Judge Stephen Bough spent Thursday sentencing six people involved in the operation selling cocaine and crack throughout the area from 2011 to 2014. Federal authorities arrested 27 people in late 2014 throughout Missouri and Illinois, and U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson claimed Malcolm Redmon of Columbia and Kenneth Scott, Sr. of Fulton led the conspiracy. Scott provided several kilograms of powder cocaine to many of the other suspects, while Redmon was accused of directing numerous sales, and converting the cocaine to crack.

The two, along with Guillermo Ortiz Perez, Teka Hayes, Marlon Jordan and Vershawn Edwards received their sentences. Scott received a ten year prison sentence, while Redmon got 24 years and four months. Scott, along with all the others, cooperated with the government’s investigation, Redmon’s attorney David Kelly said, while Redmon disputed just how involved he was with the operation.

Redmon, 33, pleaded with Judge Bough to give him a ten-year sentence, despite federal sentencing guidelines calling for a minimum of 24 years. He said his involvement in selling drugs only existed to fuel his drug habit, and hoped to rehabilitate himself while in prison. With several family members in attendance, including his two sons, Redmon asked for mercy through tears.

“I still have dreams and goals I wish to accomplish,” Redmon said. “I just hope that you take a chance on me.”

Assistant prosecutor Michael Oliver said Redmon needed a stiff sentence as an “engine” of violence in Columbia. While he has never been convicted for a shooting, Oliver tied him to several shootings in Columbia during the time of the drug conspiracy, including times when he was the victim of gun violence. From 2000 to 2013, Redmon was either in jail, prison or on supervised release, Oliver said, and needed to be taken off the streets.

“The community is watching,” Oliver said.

Judge Bough acknowledged the several family and friends that came in support of Redmon, and said he believed there was good in Redmon. The sentence was six years below what Oliver recommended. Kelly told ABC 17 News after the sentencing he was disappointed the judge did not accept the ten-year sentence, claiming Redmon was a “mid-level dealer” in the conspiracy that involved hundreds of pounds of cocaine. Perez, a Mexican national living in Kansas City, received a four-year sentence for bringing as many as a dozen kilograms of cocaine to the area for sale, mainly working with Scott. Federal and local law enforcement conducted extensive surveillance throughout 2013 and 2014, intercepting Redmon and others’ calls and texts to build evidence. Kelly said the prosecution “masterfully” painted Redmon as the head of the organization, despite evidence Perez, Ortiz and Teka Hayes dealt with massive amounts of the drugs. Hayes, who stored the drugs in her Boone County home, received probation.

Redmon will have eight years of supervised release when he gets out of prison.