East St. Louis, Ill. - Reoffending in the federal system has cost one East St. Louis resident
almost two decades of his life behind bars. In 2017, James T. Keel, 31, was out on federal
supervised release when he was caught selling cocaine from a house in East St. Louis. On Wednesday,
United States District Judge Staci M. Yandle sentenced Keel to 210 months in prison, to run
consecutively to the 27.5-month sentence Keel had already received back in February for violating
the terms of his supervised release.
Keel was originally prosecuted in 2012 for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and
possession with intent to distribute 30 grams of crack cocaine. He was convicted and sentenced to
70 months in June 2012 and began serving a term of supervised release in May 2016. In September and
October 2017, undercover agents working with the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southern
Illinois (MEGSI) and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office purchased crack cocaine from Keel on
four occasions. Agents then served a search warrant on the residence and recovered 95 grams of
powder cocaine, 64 grams of crack cocaine, 7 firearms, and over $17,000 in cash. It was later
determined that Keel had been selling drugs out of the house for over 9 months before he was
caught.
In handing down the 17.5-year sentence, Judge Yandle emphasized the need to protect the public from
Keel and deter others who are part of the ongoing drug epidemic plaguing our society. Keel
testified at his sentencing hearing that he hadn’t sold as much cocaine as the agents claimed, but
Judge Yandle found his testimony “disingenuous" as it contradicted what he told investigators
during a videotaped interview. Judge Yandle further pointed to the number of guns Keel illegally
kept in the house where he was selling cocaine, as well as the length of time he had been selling
drugs. It was clear, she said, that Keel had not learned anything from his previous stint in
prison.
Keel pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2018. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to serve
an additional 10 years of supervised release when his prison term ends.
This case was investigated by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, MEGSI, and the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Hoell
prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
