Robert Williams was sentenced to 60 months in prison on fraud and narcotics charges, United States Attorney Richard G. Callahan announced today.
Williams has been in federal custody since March when a search warrant was executed at his E. St. Louis nightclub “Club TV One.” In addition to the stolen goods the investigators hoped to recover during the search, the search revealed a stash of approximately 190 kilograms of marijuana in several duffel bags.
Williams had earlier entered guilty pleas to possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and to interstate transportation of stolen property. Williams admitted to stripping fixtures and equipment from a Central West End club in 2008 and transporting them across the river to Club TV One. The stolen property included security equipment and high-end electronics. The investigators have been able to return most of the stolen equipment to the victims.
In addition to the new sentence, Williams, 46, of Kirkwood, who was already on federal supervision for a 2005 fraud conviction, had that supervision revoked and an additional term of 10 months imprisonment imposed on that case. Williams appeared before Senior U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw on both cases.
Callahan commended the work on the case by the United States Secret Service, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department - Major Frauds Section and the Drug Enforcement Administration, who investigated the case. Callahan also thanked the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois which assisted in obtaining the search warrant that broke open the case; and Assistant United States Attorney Thomas C. Albus, who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’ Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
