Around Southeast Missouri

Stoddard Co. sheriff cracks down on meth dealers

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Methamphetamine dealers in Stoddard County took a hard hit during February, said Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner. Several arrests were made during the month, including one that lead to the fall of a drug-trafficking ring and charges from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. A car stopped inside Puxico, Mo., city limits by a Stoddard County deputy for a traffic violation was found to have methamphetamine and guns, Hefner said. The federal DEA was brought into the investigation at that point. The follow-up investigation lead to the arrest of five suspects who now face indictment for drug trafficking. Also seized were about 300 grams of methamphetamine, $7,500, two automobiles and a house. Two St. Louis residents were also arrested in February. According to Hefner, 26-year-old Kerry J. Schmidt and 40-year-old Thomas W. Patrick were arrested and charged with distribution of meth after a three-day investigation by deputies and the SEMO Drug Task Force. Bond for each of the subjects was set at $75,000. Two Stoddard County residents were also arrested on meth charges during that month. Kimberleigh K. Shapiro, 26, of Malden, Mo., and Joe Ben Baxter III, 23, of Steele, Mo., were arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine and unlawful use of a weapon following a three-day investigation by deputies and drug task force members.

-- Dexter Daily Statesman

Judge orders life sentence for murder

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- After a New Madrid County jury convicted a Poplar Bluff, Mo., man for his part in a murder, the judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole Tuesday. Derrick McFarland, 25, was found guilty of hiring a man to shoot and kill a Poplar Bluff teen. In addition to a life sentence for first-degree murder imposed by Judge Fred Copeland, McFarland received 10 years in prison on a charge of armed criminal action. The 10-year sentence is to run concurrently with the life sentence. Jurors deliberated just over 40 minutes following the two-day trial in January. McFarland's trial was moved from Butler County on a change of venue. He was found guilty of hiring Travis Henderson, 24, of New Madrid, who confessed in May to shooting Lawrence J. Warren in return for drugs and cash from McFarland. Henderson was sentenced to 30 years in prison. On Dec. 26, 2005, Poplar Bluff police responding to a report of gunshots found Warren shot to death in a pickup truck idling near the home of his girlfriend. He was shot once in the chest and once in the head. Henderson testified at the trial that McFarland provided him with the gun used to kill Warren. McFarland was later supposed to pay him anywhere from an eighth of an ounce to four ounces of crack cocaine and up to $2,500 in cash in exchange for killing the teen. After killing Warren, Henderson said he gave the weapon to McFarland. Investigators tracked the gun to the Lilbourn home of McFarland's girlfriend at the time. Although the woman had a relative hide the gun, it was later recovered from an abandoned lot.

-- Sikeston Standard Democrat