St. Louis Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing More than 400 Grams of Fentanyl

St. Louis, MO – Larry Weeden, Jr., 39, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to possession of one or more firearms as a previously convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl today in United States District Court in St. Louis. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant for an apartment in the 3700 block of Wisconsin in St. Louis City.  Weeden appeared before Federal District Judge Ronnie L. White, who accepted his guilty plea and set his sentencing for May 8, 2019. 

According to the guilty plea agreement, investigators learned Weeden was distributing fentanyl and storing significant amounts of the drug in the apartment, causing them to seek a state-level search warrant in July of 2018.

During the execution of the warrant, investigators located six (6) loaded semi-automatic pistols, including a Glock 23 .40 caliber handgun with an extended magazine and a Springfield XD .45 caliber handgun which was later determined to have been stolen.

Investigators recovered approximately 740 grams of fentanyl in total, including a large compressed brick of fentanyl and baggies of fentanyl packaged in smaller quantities, and approximately 130 grams of methamphetamine in powder and pill form.  They also located drug trafficking paraphernalia including a gas mask, cutting agents, and digital scales, as well as a money counting machine and approximately $46,000 in United States currency.

Weeden faces up to ten years imprisonment for the felon in possession charge and up to life imprisonment for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, which also carries a ten-year mandatory minimum term due to the quantity of fentanyl involved.

This case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.