St. Louis County man sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug crimes

St. Louis County man sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug crimes
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen at the United States Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a St. Louis County man to 10 years in prison for drug and gun crimes.

Bryant Taylor, 31, sold oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a person working for the DEA in August and September of 2019.

On March 28, 2020, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers saw what appeared to be a drug transaction, and officers found fentanyl, cocaine base and a 9mm Taurus handgun in a Mercedes Benz with Taylor.

On Oct. 1, 2020, after Taylor was charged in St. Louis Circuit Court and a U.S. Marshals task force went to his home to arrest him, they found fentanyl, $12,795 in cash, a Glock 19 handgun with a drum magazine, a Kel-Tec rifle, a Kimber .45-caliber handgun and drug paraphernalia. Taylor admitted selling fentanyl and cocaine base and admitted that the cash came from drug sales, his guilty plea says.

Taylor pleaded guilty in March to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl and heroin.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department conducted the investigation.