Cape Girardeau man charged with federal drug distribution

A indictment announced Wednesday charged a Cape Girardeau man recently acquitted of state drug charges with federal drug distribution.

Charles E. Jones III, 29, was indicted on two counts of distributing five or more grams of cocaine base in two separate incidents in 2003, according to assistant federal prosecutor Abbie Crites-Leoni.

He was accused of selling crack cocaine on April 25, 2003, and June 4, 2003, Crites-Leoni said. She declined to provide details of the sales.

The indictment against Jones was returned late October after he was arrested Oct. 26 on a state charge for felony distribution of a controlled substance near a school.

He had been accused of selling $450 of cocaine to a confidential informant on March 11 out of his Cape Girardeau apartment in Village on the Green. His apartment is less than 2,000 feet of Southeast Missouri State University.

As the state charge was brought up against Jones first, federal authorities had to wait until the case was resolved before announcing the indictment, Crites-Leoni said.

On Tuesday, a jury found Jones innocent of the state charge. Following his acquittal, Jones remained in custody until being handed over to federal authorities Wednesday morning.

Jones was next scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lewis M. Blanton for arraignment and a detention hearing at 10 a.m. Monday in the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Crites-Leoni said.