Skip to content

Vandalia man gets 12 years for meth offenses

A Vandalia man has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in federal court on methamphetamine charges.

A. Courtney Cox, a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, said on Monday that Brenton D. Bliss, 38, of rural Vandalia, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to two terms of 151 months in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The two prison terms will run concurrently (at the same time).

Bliss pleaded guilty on April 10 of this year to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. He also pleaded guilty to a second count of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

Cox was also ordered to pay a $750 fine and a $200 special assessment.

According to court documents, a methamphetamine conspiracy operated in Fayette County from October 2006 through July 4, 2007.

During that period, Cox said, Bliss traveled to Kansas City, Mo., to purchase methamphetamine from a source of supply and returned to Fayette County, where he distributed it to various customers.

On July 4 of last year, a search warrant was executed at Bliss’s residence, and law enforcement officers seized 19.8 grams of methamphetamine. Officials alleged that Bliss intended to distribute that methamphetamine to other individuals, and that he had distributed a portion of meth to a minor.

This investigation, and an ongoing investigation into methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution activities in and around Fayette County, is being conducted by the Fayette County Sheriffs Office and Drug Enforcement Administration, in cooperation with Fayette County States Attorney Stephen Friedel.

The ongoing investigation is conducted as part of the Fayette County Project Safe Neighborhoods DRAGUN Team Initiative, a cooperative effort of local, state and federal law enforcement, and state and federal prosecuting authorities, aimed at ridding communities of drugs and guns. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kit R. Morrissey.

Leave a Comment