Dennis J. Potter Sr., 53, of Festus recently was sentenced to 10 years in prison following felony drug charges and a probation violation, according to court documents.
In January 2012, a De Soto Police officer spotted Potter driving a pickup with expired license plates at Miller and Fourth streets and pulled him over and found two plastic bags in the truck filled with a powder and a syringe filled with a liquid. Potter told the officers the items were his and that the syringe contained methamphetamine, the probable-cause statement said.
About two months later, in March 2012, officers learned that Potter was making meth in a camper parked in the 600 block of East Pratt Street in De Soto and found meth and a meth lab there. In addition, during the investigation, officers learned Potter had purchased pseudoephedrine, commonly used to make meth, the report said.
Then, in October 2012, members of the Jefferson County Municipal Enforcement Group drug task force found Potter again making meth at the address on East Pratt Street in De Soto, according to the report.
Potter pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking, to one count of manufacturing meth and to one count of possession of a controlled substance, all felonies, and in October 2013, he was sentenced to two 10-year prison terms, one for the trafficking charge and one for the manufacturing charge, as well as to four years for the possession charge.
However, after completing a treatment program, Potter was released in February 2014, the sentences were suspended and he got five years’ probation. He violated the probation, though, and on June 15, Jefferson County Div. 6 Circuit Judge Troy A. Cardona executed the sentences. They are to be served concurrently, or at the same time, court papers indicate.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Trisha C. Stefanski handled the case.
Potter currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.