Northeast Missouri Felon Caught with a Firearm and Methamphetamine Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison (DOJ)

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a felon from Palmyra, Missouri who was caught with a firearm, methamphetamine and other drugs to 11 years in prison.

On Oct. 4, 2022, the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force (NEMO) learned that John R. Breault would be traveling to a home in La Belle, Missouri to sell meth. NEMO and Lewis County Sheriff's deputies watched Breault as he spent time at the house and then went to a bank. They also watched as a known drug user withdrew money from an ATM and then got back into Breault's vehicle. Investigators stopped the vehicle after it dropped off the drug user at his home. Breault unsuccessfully tried to get his driver to flee, attacking and kicking a NEMO special agent and then resisting arrest after he was removed from the vehicle. Investigators found meth, 282 morphine tablets and marijuana on Breault. They found a 9mm handgun, $746 in cash, drug paraphernalia, and a grocery bag containing about 381 grams of meth in the vehicle.

Breault, now 40, pleaded guilty in April to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Lewis County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.