Shawn Tepen, 32, of Cedar Hill has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it, the office of the U.S. Attorney Eastern District of Missouri reported.
Tepen pleaded guilty to the federal charge on Dec. 2, and U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. sentenced him to 90 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release. Tepen also was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment, according to court documents.
Tepen was charged in September 2019 with knowingly and intentionally possessing more than 500 grams of meth and possessing one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. The gun charge was dismissed as part of his plea agreement, court records show.
In May 2019, Tepen was suspected of receiving numerous packages containing narcotics at his home on Golden Spring Court, and the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Jefferson County Drug Task Force began to investigate him. The Jefferson County Drug Task Force also informed investigators that it had received information that Tepen was distributing meth and other narcotics, the plea agreement said.
On Sept. 3, investigators learned Tepen was expected to receive a package containing meth, and the package was intercepted on Sept. 6. The package was addressed to Tepen and had a return address from Los Angeles with a fake name listed as the sender. A drug-detecting dog alerted investigators to the presence of drugs in the package, and they found four pounds, 7.8 ounces of meth in the package, the report said.
Then, an undercover postal investigator completed a controlled delivery of the package on Sept. 9 to Tepen’s home, and he picked up the package and took it inside his home. After that, investigators raided his home and discovered 1,983.7 grams for meth, a large mushroom-grow lab in the home’s basement and a firearm with three magazines, according to the report.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nauman Wadalawala handled the case.