Joseph Kenneth Fowler, 39, of Arnold has been sentenced to seven years in prison by a Jefferson County judge after pleading guilty to six felony charges. He will serve the sentence while also serving an 11-year prison sentence he received earlier this year in Stoddard County, according to court documents.
Jefferson County Div. 5 Circuit Judge Victor Melenbrink on Dec. 16 sentenced Fowler to seven years for a fraudulent use of a credit device; five years each for two separate possession of controlled substance charges; five years for a resisting arrest charge; five years for second-degree assault; and four years for a different resisting arrest charge, court records show.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay E. Whalen prosecuted the case.
Fowler was already serving the prison sentence he received in Stoddard County on May 21 when he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest and operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for the drug possession charge, four years in prison for the resisting arrest charge and one year in jail for operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, court documents said.
The two prison terms were to be served consecutively for a total of 11 years, court records show.
The two possession charges in Jefferson County stem from an August 2019 arrest in Arnold. Fowler was arrested at a home in the 1800 block of Pomme Road after Arnold Police found substances that tested positive as fentanyl and methamphetamine along with ammunition in a living area in the garage that he was staying in at the house, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Fowler was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest after an October 2021 incident in Arnold, and he was charged with resisting arrest again in September 2022 after another arrest in Arnold, according to court records.
In 2022, Fowler fled from Arnold Police as the officers attempted to stop a vehicle he was driving. Fowler sped away from the officers, made multiple lane changes without signaling and went through a red light at the intersection of Jeffco Boulevard and Starling Airport Road as he fled from police, court documents said.
Fowler was charged with fraudulent use of a credit device when he was seen in surveillance video purchasing two chainsaws at an unnamed Arnold store with the victim’s Discover card. The chainsaws cost $1,417, and Fowler did not have permission to use the credit card, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Fowler currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.