Area men headed to prison

Three men Scott County were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison on unrelated felony crack cocaine charges. Each appeared before U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel in Cape Girardeau.

Derrick D. Scott, 26, of Sikeston, Mo., was sentenced to 30 years on one felony count of possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base.

On Feb. 8, 2002, Sikeston patrolman Andy Cooper stopped Scott for driving while his license was suspended. During a search of Scott's person, officers found three packages of crack cocaine, worth approximately $3,000, inside his pants. At his jury trial, Scott denied possessing the drugs and said officers had fabricated the incident.

At the sentencing, Judge Sippel found the evidence proved Scott was responsible for distributing more than 500 grams of crack in Sikeston over two years. Scott's sentence also reflected an increase in punishment upon Sippel's finding that Scott had committed perjury at trial.

Charlie L. Smith 34, of Haywood City, Mo., was sentenced to 100 months on two felony counts of distribution of cocaine base. On two occasions in April 2002, Smith sold crack cocaine to a confidential informant in Scott County.

Chad A. Woods, 27, of Parma, Mo., was sentenced to 42 months on one felony count of aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine base and one felony count of distribution of five grams or more of cocaine base.

On June 21, 1999, Woods directed an undercover officer and a confidential informant to pick up an "eight ball" of crack cocaine at a car wash in Parma. The officer and the informant met Woods and another individual at the car wash about 10 minutes later. The officer paid $150 to the individual accompanying Woods and retrieved the crack from the console of their car.

On June 23, 2000, an informant bought 5.36 grams of crack from Woods for $250.