Stephen Griffin Jr., Meth, Fentanyl Trafficking, Missouri 2024

A notorious meth and fentanyl trafficker has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a large-scale drug trafficking organization in the St. Louis area. Stephen Griffin Jr., 51, was sentenced to 25 years for the main case, filed in 2021, and two more years for violating his supervised release in a 2015 heroin trafficking case.

Griffin’s organization brought hundreds of pounds of fentanyl and methamphetamine to the St. Louis area, with investigators seizing about 39 firearms, 499 pounds of meth, 22 pounds of heroin, 49 pounds of fentanyl, four vehicles, ammunition, and more than $500,000 in assets during the investigation.

Griffin pleaded guilty in April to two counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

He admitted being part of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that brought meth and fentanyl from Arizona and California to the Eastern District of Missouri. Initially, Griffin’s organization received meth and fentanyl in the mail, in multiple-kilogram packages, his plea agreement says.

Griffin’s top lieutenant, Troy Mills, 22, was also sentenced to 16 years in prison on meth and fentanyl conspiracy charges and a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Crystal Miller, 37, of Florissant, who ran stash houses, was sentenced in December 2023 to 20 years in prison.

The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Casey prosecuting the case.