Monroe City, Missouri, Man Sentenced to Twenty Years’ Imprisonment for Distributing Methamphetamine

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -Phillip C. Mayfield, 35, who lived in both Monroe City, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois, was sentenced on November 7, 2024, to twenty years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Mayfield was indicted in June 2023 and convicted after a jury trial in June 2024. Over three days of trial testimony, the government presented evidence to establish that Mayfield sold over fifty grams of methamphetamine to another individual in a grocery store parking lot in Quincy in February 2023 and then made a second sale of over fifty grams of methamphetamine in an apartment parking lot in Quincy in March 2023.

At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless, the government established that Mayfield was on bond in five separate state felony cases at the time he made the drug sales. During the hearing, Judge Lawless noted that Mayfield had a very significant criminal history which included two prior drug trafficking convictions. Judge Lawless also commented that Mayfield was motivated to commit his crimes because he liked the lifestyle of being a drug dealer and the financial means it provided him.

Mayfield remains in the custody of the United States Marshal Service where he has been since his arrest on June 20, 2023. The statutory penalties for distribution of methamphetamine are not less than ten years' and up to a life term of imprisonment; at least five years and up to a life term of supervised release; and up to a $10,000,000 fine.

The Illinois State Police West Central Illinois Task Force investigated the case, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Springfield Resident Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah E. Seberger and Matthew Z. Weir represented the government in the prosecution.

The case against Mayfield is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.