St. Louis Man Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison for Trying to Buy 40 Pounds of Methamphetamine

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis, Missouri man to nine years in prison for trying to buy 40 pounds of methamphetamine.

On July 29, 2020, Richard Treis, now 51, and another man, Dennis Dewrock, arrived at a gas station in Pacific, Missouri with a black bag full of cash, expecting to purchase the meth. The deal had been arranged on a cell phone smuggled into prison.

But Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso was aware of their plan. They learned a month earlier that Tarik "Morocco" Mazhar, an inmate in the Great Plains Correctional Institution in Hinton, Okla., wanted to purchase a large quantity of methamphetamine. An undercover HSI special agent got involved. Tries called the undercover agent and confirmed that the delivery would happen in Missouri, and both Treis and Mazhar, via the smuggled cell phone, sent pictures of the cash to the agent.

Agents arrested both Treis and Dewrock after they swapped the cash for the drugs.

Treis pleaded guilty conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. As part of his plea, he has agreed to forfeit $128,000 that has been in the custody of Homeland Security Investigations.

Mazhar, 43, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to the same methamphetamine conspiracy charge. He is serving a 13-year prison sentence.

Dewrock, 55, also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Dixon is prosecuting the case.