A former Jefferson County man, Daniel Jacob Warden, 51, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison following drug and weapons charges and a probation violation.
On March 29, Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey revoked his probation and executed the prison terms he previously was sentenced to – a 15-year term for possessing methamphetamine with the intent to deliver it and a seven-year term of unlawful possession of a firearm Warden received in 2018, as well as two 15-year terms for possession of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance and a seven-year term for unlawful possession of a firearm, all from 2019. All the sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, for a total of 15 years, according to court records.
Warden, who last lived in Poplar Bluff but previously lived in De Soto and Festus, currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay Whalen handled the case.
Warden had been placed on five years’ probation in February 2020 after completing a 24-month treatment program following previous convictions, court documents show.
He was convicted after police searched Warden’s residence at High Hill Lane in Festus in January 2016 and found a nylon holster in his closet. Warden, who had a previous conviction for manufacturing drugs, told the officers he did not have a gun. However, police found a semiautomatic handgun, along with a magnetic box that contained several small plastic bags containing meth under cardboard at the bottom of the closet, the probable-cause statement said.
Police also discovered two more plastic bags containing meth, 11 live .40-caliber rounds, an open box containing 44 .40-caliber bullets and a digital scale in the closet. Syringes, glass smoking pipes, small plastic bags and a metal spoon with residue were found in the room, the report said.
Warden pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2018, according to court documents.
The other three sentences were imposed after Warden pleaded guilty in February 2019 to felony drug and firearm possession charges from an April 2016 incident in Jefferson County, as well as charges for felony delivering of a controlled substance from a July 2017 incident in Jefferson County, court records said.
Warden previously was convicted in 2006 for attempting to make a controlled substance, a felony, and in 2007, for felony possession of a controlled substance, according to court documents.