ST. LOUIS — A Missouri man is accused of possessing at least 400 pounds of methamphetamine in what prosecutors are calling the largest seizure of the narcotic in the history of the St. Louis office of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Kolby L. Kristiansen, 68, of Wildwood, was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. He was charged with possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Prosecutors said that Kristiansen was caught with meth in a storage unit in St. Louis County, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Kolby L. Kristiansen, 68, was caught with at least 400 pounds of meth in a storage unit in St. Louis County, authorities said.https://t.co/Ejcp2Ecz6s
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) July 14, 2022
Charging documents stated that investigators located the storage unit, and a drug-sniffing K-9 alerted authorities on June 29, prosecutors said in the news release. On July 1, investigators executed a federal search warrant and discovered three plastic containers believed to be holding methamphetamine.
The containers, including the packaging materials, weighed 476 pounds.
Authorities estimated the street value of the drug at more than $1 million, according to the Post-Dispatch.
“Methamphetamine has a street value of about $2,500 to $3,500 per pound at the mid-level drug distribution level where this drug was seized,” Michael A. Davis, the head of the DEA’s St. Louis division, said in a statement. “That makes this seizure valued at more than $1 million, the largest meth seizure in this division’s history. It’s a testament to the dedicated effort of our agents at stopping this poison from reaching our communities.”
Kristiansen was recently released from federal prison after serving time for similar charges in 2014, KMOV-TV reported. He had pleaded guilty of distribution of methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Kristiansen was sentenced to 120 months on each of the two counts, and those sentences ran concurrently, according to the Post-Dispatch. His sentence also included 48 months of supervised release.
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