Guns and Drugs Lead to 86-Month Sentence

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a felon caught with fentanyl and methamphetamine and twice with guns to 86 months in prison.

Davion Dixon, of Ferguson, Missouri, and others were in a stolen BMW on Oct. 31, 2022, when the vehicle crashed in Richmond Heights, Missouri after a shooting. Dixon had an AR-style pistol, which he discarded as he fled from the crash. He was arrested in a nearby backyard.

Dixon was arrested again on March 23, 2023, this time by the St. Louis County Police Department on a warrant from St. Louis County Circuit Court. Officers spotted Dixon with an AR-style pistol before the arrest, and found the gun inside his home, along with a 60-round magazine and an "auto sear" that would have made the gun fully automatic if installed. The auto sear, even if it has not been attached to a firearm, is defined as a machine gun under federal law. Officers also found 16.67 grams of meth, 56 capsules containing fentanyl and 2.078 grams of cocaine base.

Dixon, now 22, pleaded guilty in May to five felonies: possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of a machine gun and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis County Police Department, the Richmond Heights Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski prosecuted the case.

This case 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.