Former St. Louis City Police Officer Sentenced to 24 Months on Weapons Charges

St. Louis, MO – United States District Court Judge Audrey G. Fleissig sentenced former St. Louis City Police Officer DON McGHEE to 24 months imprisonment this afternoon on charges of providing a firearm to known drug dealers to facilitate their distribution of crack cocaine and marijuana in the City of St. Louis.

According to court documents, McGhee was a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer assigned as a Patrolman in the Sixth District. Officer McGhee knew and associated with individuals who stored and distributed quantities of crack cocaine and marijuana in and from a house located on Cottage Avenue in the City of St. Louis. On March 2, 2014, Officer McGhee took a Mossberg 12-gauge pistol grip shotgun to the Cottage Avenue drug house and gave it to one of the drug dealers knowing, believing or having reason to believe that the drug dealer would use the shotgun in relation to and in furtherance of the drug trafficking. During the execution of a search warrant at the Cottage Avenue house several days later, law enforcement officers recovered the Mossberg pistol grip shotgun, fully loaded, along with several other firearms, ammunition, quantities of crack cocaine and marijuana and a large amount of cash.

McGhee, St. Louis City, pled guilty in April 2015 to one felony count of conspiracy to possess a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

United States Attorney Richard Callahan stated that this case again proved that the St. Louis City Police Department had the will and the integrity to investigate wrongdoing within its own Department. He noted that this investigation originated with the St. Louis City Police Department, which then sought the partnership of additional law enforcement agencies as its investigation expanded.  In addition to the St. Louis City Police Department, the case was also investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.