Canton Man Sentenced to 81 Months in Prison for Possession of 5 Grams or More of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute

PEORIA, Ill. – A Canton, Illinois man, Derek Lee Pollitt, 37, of the 100 block of South Avenue H, has been sentenced to 81 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, for possession of five grams or more of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the United States presented evidence that in April 2022 Canton police officers stopped a car in which Pollitt was a passenger. On the front passenger-side floorboard, where Pollitt had been seated, officers found a large zip-lock style baggie containing 29.2 grams of actual methamphetamine. They also found that Pollitt had in his possession $129 in cash, along with various pills. Officers obtained records from CashApp that showed Pollitt was using the mobile financial service to transfer money to drug suppliers and customers.

Pollitt was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2022 and pleaded guilty in December 2022. He has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his indictment.

The statutory penalties for possession of five grams or more of methamphetamine with intent to distribute are not less than five years and up to forty years imprisonment, not more than a $5,000,000 fine and four years to life of supervised release.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Canton Police Department, and the Illinois State Police investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Hollingshead-Cook represented the United States in the prosecution.

The case against Pollitt is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)’s National Methamphetamine Strategic Initiative, spearheaded locally out of the Pekin Police Department. The primary goal of this initiative is to address methamphetamine trafficking and its attendant consequences by using a coordinated, multi-agency approach targeting the highest levels of drug trafficking leadership.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.