A 34-year-old St. Louis man who previously lived in Arnold has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on three felony drug charges and two misdemeanor charges for endangering a minor, court records show.
Benjamin Matthew Vogt sold drugs to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office detective in Arnold and Fenton at least three times, one time completing a transaction near an Arnold school while children were in his vehicle, according to the probable-cause statement in the case.
He pleaded guilty Feb. 3 to distribution of a controlled substance in a protected location, a class A felony; two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, each one a class C felony; and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, each one a class A misdemeanor, according to court documents.
Jefferson County Div. 5 Circuit Judge Victor J. Melenbrink sentenced Vogt to 20 years in prison for distributing, 10 years for each delivery charge and one year in jail for each endangerment charge. The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time. However, the two jail sentences were suspended, and Vogt was placed on two years’ probation and ordered to participate in a treatment program, court records show.
On May 3, 2021, Vogt met a detective at the QuikTrip gas station parking lot, 2600 S. Old Hwy. 141, in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton and sold the detective 10 Xanax pills for $50, the probable-cause statement said.
On May 7, 2021, Vogt met the detective again to sell 10 hits of LSD for $100. During that transaction, Vogt met the detective at the Fazoli’s restaurant parking lot, 123 Arnold Crossroads Center, in Arnold, which is within 2,000 feet of the Fox C-6 School District’s Arnold campus that houses Fox high, middle and elementary schools. Two children younger than 6 were in Vogt’s car when he sold the drugs to the undercover officer, the report said.
On May 13, 2021, Vogt met the detective in the parking lot outside the Dollar Tree, 906 Arnold Commons Drive, and he sold her 30 hits of LSD for $325, the report said.
After the undercover officer put the money on the passenger seat of Vogt’s car, Vogt was arrested. At the time, Vogt was found with a handgun, extended magazine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, the probable-cause statement said.
On the same day Vogt was arrested, a search warrant was executed at his then home on Old Orchard Circle in Arnold, and marijuana, 12 Xanax pills and a long gun were found in the home, the report said.