NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.justice.gov/index.html

APRIL 29, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO COLUMBIA MEN SENTENCED FOR

DRUG-TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACY

            JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that two Columbia, Mo., men were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a drug–trafficking conspiracy.

            Arthur Lee Rainey, Jr., 25, and Thomas Cortez Stevens, 25, both of Columbia, were each sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole in separate appearances this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey. The court also ordered Rainey and Stevens to forfeit to the government $33,732 that was seized by law enforcement officers at the time of their arrest.

            Both Rainey and Stevens pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine in Boone County, Mo.

            Columbia police officers responded to a burglary alarm at the residence shared by Rainey and Stevens on April 2, 2008. Both men had been smoking marijuana before officers arrived, and there was a smell of burnt marijuana in the residence. Officers searched the residence and recovered marijuana, 13 plastic bags that contained 1,759 tablets of ecstasy, a Pringles can with a false bottom that contained 66 grams of cocaine powder, a vitamin B-12 bottle that contained four tablets of ecstasy, a plastic bag that contained 55.2 grams of cocaine powder, two plastic bags that contained 176.4 grams of crack cocaine, four plastic bags containing 501.6 grams of cocaine hydrochloride from inside a box springs in the garage, a plastic bag containing 42.2 grams of cocaine hydrochloride in the laundry room, a loaded 12-gauge shotgun, a pistol, a rifle and ammunition.

            Officers also recovered a total of $33,779 in cash, including a large amount of cash found in a shoe box in a bedroom closet, $5,000 hidden inside a faux candle, $10,000 from inside three shoes in another bedroom closet, and a large bag of cash in a bedroom closet along with a stack of $5 bills wrapped with a rubber band.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Columbia, Mo., Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

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