A Missouri man on Thursday admitted to being caught in Franklin County, Missouri trying to buy 40 pounds of methamphetamine for $120,000.
Richard Treis, 48, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Treis also admitted that he was involved in a deal that was originally negotiated on a cell phone smuggled into prison.
In June of 2020, Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso learned that an inmate in the Great Plains Correctional Institution in Hinton, Okla. wanted to purchase a large quantity of methamphetamine, according to Treis’ plea.
In a series of calls to a cell phone that had been smuggled to the inmate, Tarik “Morocco” Mazhar, an undercover HSI special agent coordinated the delivery of about 40 pounds of the drug.
Tries called the undercover agent and confirmed that the delivery would happen in Missouri, and both Tries and Mazhar sent pictures of the cash to the agent.
On July 29, 2020, Tries and another man, Dennis Dewrock, arrived at a gas station in Pacific, Missouri with a black bag full of cash, the plea agreement says. Agents had brought about 15 pounds of methamphetamine and arrested both Treis and Dewrock after they swapped the cash for the drugs.
Treis is scheduled to be sentenced on February 16. As part of his plea, he has agreed to forfeit $128,000 in the custody of Homeland Security Investigations.
Mazhar, 41, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to the same methamphetamine conspiracy charge and was sentenced in March to 13 years in prison. He is currently in a high-security prison in Mississippi.
Dewrock, 53, also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Dixon is prosecuting the case.
