Matthew Messmer, 49, of Arnold has been sentenced to seven years in prison. He pleaded guilty to a second-degree drug trafficking charge and two charges of possession of a controlled substance, court records show.
Jefferson County Div. 1 Circuit Judge Joseph Rathert sentenced Messmer on Dec. 6 to seven years in prison for each charge. However, the sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, court records said.
Messmer already was incarcerated at the Farmington Correctional Center when he was sentenced. He had his probation revoked following the arrest that led to the latest charges and was ordered to serve a seven-year sentence he received in January 2021 after pleading guilty to two possession of a controlled substance charges, according to court documents.
Messmer will serve the two seven-year sentences concurrently, court records said.
Arnold Police arrested Messmer at about 6:40 p.m. Jan. 5, 2022, at Lowe’s, 920 Arnold Commons Drive. Officers had been called to the store because Messmer had been acting strangely, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
Officers discovered Messmer was wanted on three warrants and arrested him, the report said. When Messmer was searched, an officer found a sandwich bag with 128 pill capsules containing a white powdery substance inside it. The officer also found a glass pipe with residue in one of Messmer’s pockets, according to the report.
After Messmer was booked at the Arnold Police Department, he was released to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy, and at that time, police found Messmer had a partially smoked marijuana cigarette and a pill bottle with two pills in it, the report said.
The substance in the capsules tested positive for fentanyl, the burnt residue on the pipe tested positive for methamphetamine, the cigarette tested positive for marijuana and one of the pills tested positive for alprazolam, according to the report.
Assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay Whalen handled the case.