Multiple People Arrested on Federal Drug Trafficking and Violent Crimes Charges

St. Louis, MO – Multiple individuals were arrested today in connection with a twenty-count federal indictment which was returned last week, but remained sealed until today’s arrests.

The indictment charges 18 individuals with various drug trafficking offenses and violent crimes, including murder, which occurred throughout the St. Louis Metropolitan Area over the last fourteen years.

The individuals in custody at this time are:

• JOSE ALFREDO VELAZQUEZ, Texas
• ADRIAN LEMONS
• ANTHONY JORDAN
• DWAYNE RAINEY
• JUAN RAMON GARZA, Texas
• LUIS FERNANDO CANTU, Texas
• LARON COLEMAN
• LOUIS FELTON
• CLARENCE MILLER
• DEMETRIUS O’NEAL
• MAURICE WOODSON
• GREGORY KNOX
• LARRY BOYD
• GLORIA WARD

All defendants are from the St. Louis area unless otherwise noted.

These arrests are part of an on-going effort by the “Mission SAVE Initiative” to reduce violent crime in the St. Louis Metropolitan area.   Mission SAVE (Strike Against Violence Early) is a hybrid task force that was established in December of 2014.  It consists of personnel from the FBI, DEA, St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office, the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  Also assisting Mission Save in this particular investigation were agents from Homeland Security, the Postal Inspection Service and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.          

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven to be guilty.