Richard Lee Soest, 59, who lives in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton, has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to 11 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. He had been arrested twice in 2022 and once in 2023, according to court documents.
Jefferson County Div. 1 Circuit Judge Joseph Rathert on Sept. 2 sentenced Soest to two six-year prison terms for two felony charges of endangering the welfare of a child; a six-year prison term for a felony delivery of a controlled substance charge; four four-year prison terms for separate felony possession of a controlled substance charges; four four-year prison terms for separate felony unlawful use of a weapon charges; and ordered Soest to pay a $50 fine for a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, court records show.
The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, for a total of six years, court documents said.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay E. Whalen prosecuted the case.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies first arrested Soest in February 2022 after receiving information that he was distributing methamphetamine from his home in the 200 block of Cool Valley Drive off Hwy. 141 between Arnold and Fenton, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Soest was seen putting something into a toolbox in the bed of a pickup and driving away from his home. Deputies stopped Soest near his home, and he told investigators he had meth in the toolbox, the report said.
Deputies found meth, pills and a digital scale with residue in the toolbox, and they found a rifle, loaded pistol, more pills and a glass pipe with residue in the pickup. Deputies also searched Soest’s home, and they found more meth, pills and another gun, according to the report.
Soest was arrested again in June 2022 when deputies returned to his home to execute a search warrant because of suspected drug activity. Before executing the search warrant, deputies saw two girls, both younger than 17, leave the home and learned that the two girls lived at the house, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
After the girls left the home, Soest got into a 2018 GMC Sierra and drove way. Deputies stopped him, and they found two glass smoking devices with residue at the home, the report said.
Soest told the deputies that his habit “not as bad” as when they arrested him in February, and he used the pipes to take small “hits” to get through the day, according to the report.
Deputies then escorted Soest back to his home, where they found meth, more glass smoking devices and a digital scale, the report said.
In February 2023, a deputy stopped Soest on Lower Byrnes Mill Road near Hwy. 30 in House Springs for driving an improperly licensed vehicle. Soest was wanted on active warrants at the time of the stop, and the deputy found a gun, meth and glass smoking devices in the vehicle, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.