SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and for illegally possessing a firearm.
Derrick L. Hall, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
On June 29, 2022, Hall pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin from May 15 to Sept. 18, 2019, and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
According to court documents, Hall sold 14 grams of heroin to a confidential informant on two separate occasions and sold an additional 23 grams of heroin and a firearm to a confidential informant on a third occasion. Hall drove to St. Louis on Aug. 29, 2019, where he obtained approximately 50 grams of heroin that was seized from him in a traffic stop. He returned to St. Louis on Sept. 18, 2019, and encountered law enforcement officers when he returned home.
On Sept. 18, 2019, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hall’s residence. Officers found a plastic bag that contained approximately 17.4 grams of heroin on top of the bedroom dresser, a plastic bag that contained approximately 48.2 grams of heroin inside a boot that was lying in between the bed and the nightstand, a plastic container that contained a plastic bag with approximately 2.8 grams of heroin on top of the nightstand, and a plastic bag that contained approximately a half gram of heroin in the trash can. Officers found a total of approximately 70 grams of heroin in Hall’s residence, a Sig Sauer firearm with ammunition, and $4,532 in cash inside a purse on the floor of the bedroom closet.
Officers also searched Hall’s car, which was parked in the driveway, and found a plastic bag that contained a white substance (consistent with a cutting agent for heroin) in the trunk of the vehicle. It was found near a bottle of Dormin, which is a cutting agent for heroin, and small plastic baggies, consistent with that used to package user amounts of heroin. Officers also found ammunition in the trunk of Hall’s car.
According to court documents, Hall’s criminal history began in 1987, when he was 17 years old and committed the crime of possession of cocaine. That same year, he attempted to rob someone and when the person said they had nothing for him to take, shot the person in the leg. In 1988 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assault and five years for possession of cocaine. In April 2011, Hall sold cocaine to an undercover police officer in St. Louis County, Mo., and was convicted of distributing a controlled substance. Hall also has seven convictions for stealing and was on parole at the time he committed the federal violations in this case.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Josephine L. Stockard. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.