Roy William Burris Jr., Cocaine Trafficking, Missouri 2020

ST. LOUIS, MO – A California man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine in Missouri.

Roy William Burris Jr., 40, of Paramount, California, was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in February 2020. The jury also found that the quantity of cocaine involved in the conspiracy attributable to Burris was five kilograms or more.

According to trial evidence, Burris was part of an organized crime conspiracy that involved purchasing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cocaine in multi-kilogram amounts for further distribution and sale. Burris obtained bulk quantities of cocaine from suppliers with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and organized multi-kilogram sales of cocaine to others for further distribution.

Burris was originally arrested at the Long Beach Airport in California on February 29, 2016, en route to St. Louis, carrying a loaded handgun, seven cellular phones, drug ledgers reflecting hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drug transactions, and other indicia of drug trafficking.

After his release, Burris continued to traffic cocaine and was arrested again on March 30, 2016, in Hawaiian Gardens, California, in possession of 5 kilograms of cocaine and approximately $150,000 in U.S. Currency. Burris ultimately traveled to Culiacán, Mexico, to meet with members of the Sinaloa Cartel about distributing bulk amounts of cocaine in St. Louis, Missouri.

On September 7, 2016, Burris and other members of the conspiracy succeeded in having approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine shipped via UPS to the Silver Lining bar in South St. Louis. However, DEA agents were able to intercept the shipment, and Burris was subsequently arrested in California.

At the sentencing hearing, Chief Judge Rodney W. Sippel discussed the seriousness of the offense, noting the immeasurable and tragic consequences of Burris’s distribution of over 100 kilograms of cocaine into American communities.

Related Federal Cases