EAST ST. LOUIS - Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that Gerald Tanner, 56, of Collinsville, Illinois, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for conspiring to distribute oxycodone and methadone.

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On November 18, 2015, a federal grand jury handed down an indictment alleging that three St. Clair County residents participated in a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and methadone into the Southern District of Illinois. Evidence discussed in court established that the St. Louis Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Tanner for illegally distributing schedule II narcotics out of his home. The DEA obtained the assistance of a confidential source and purchased opiate-based pain medications from Ryan Koch and Lisa-Marie Sue Ketterer, who were supplied by Gerald Tanner. Koch and Ketterer resold a portion of the drugs they bought and used the remainder. Koch, 34, and Ketterer, 26, both of St. Clair County, were previously prosecuted and sentenced in federal court for their role in the charged conspiracy.

United States Attorney Donald S. Boyce previously said, “There has been a national proliferation of opiate drug abuse. Sales of opioid pain relievers quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. And that proliferation has correlated strongly with an increase in heroin abuse and drug- related deaths. Opiates are causing tremendous damage in our community and the United States Attorney’s office will continue to fight the distribution of drugs that endanger public safety.”

The investigation is being conducted by Diversion Investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.

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