Trooper honored for work to aid drug, gun crime prosecution

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri recently recognized a local investigator for his efforts in getting more firearms and drug cases prosecuted at the federal level.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Johnson received the Distinguished Service Award during a ceremony earlier this year at the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse in St. Louis.

An investigator with Troop E’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, Johnson was honored for his work as a liaison officer between the patrol and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cape Girardeau.

Johnson’s liaison position came about because “I noted we were getting highway patrol cases by normal channels a lot later than we needed them,” explained Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Sorrell. “ … We were getting cases months after they occurred rather than a few days.”

Sorrell said there was a “bottleneck” in the process, which had troopers sending reports to the county prosecuting attorneys, who then sent them to federal agents before they “then forwarded (them) to our office. The process just took a long time.”

Wanting to shorten that process, Sorrell said, he met with the zone sergeants and supervisors in Troop E in May.

“I asked for the officers to start sending me reports directly,” Sorrell said. “The highway patrol was agreeable to start some process of reporting their firearms and drug cases to me directly, and we needed a liaison officer to coordinate that transfer.

“Jeff volunteered to be that person. It’s sort of a thankless task.”

Johnson, Sorrell said, has been “converted” into an investigator to track down reports, witnesses, conviction documents and other items “we need for each file to prosecute at this office.

“That’s all above and beyond his normal duties as a DDCC investigator.”

Johnson has had several cases in the past adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives or FBI for federal prosecution, so, he said, he “kind of knew what was expected as far as the paperwork was concerned.”

Having done this for now almost a year, “I can tell you it’s been a raging success solely because of Mr. Johnson’s efforts,” Sorrell said.

“The impact of it has cut down the time from when a crime is committed to indictment from months to days,” Sorrell explained. “ … We get reports the officers have just barely written.

“We get them quickly, and that’s important.”

During 2019, he said, Johnson sent the U.S. Attorney’s Office approximately 50 cases that “otherwise we simply would not have seen.”

Sorrell described the highway patrol’s cases as “good cases. The highway patrol officers are extremely talented and effective at investigating crimes and writing reports.”

The majority of the work on the cases, Johnson said, was done by the “uniformed troopers who made the cases.”

For Johnson, receiving the award was “certainly a surprise, a good surprise. Like I said, the credit goes to the troopers that were out there on the side of the road, taking these guns and narcotics away from the individuals that possessed them.

“They deserve the credit, not me.”

Four years ago, Sorrell said, the U.S. Attorney’s Office at Cape prosecuted about 80 cases a year.

“Last year, due to Mr. Johnson’s efforts and the efforts of the other officers, we prosecuted 183 felonies,” he said. “It’s just led to a huge increase in the number of cases we are reviewing and prosecuting.”

The success, Sorrell said, is “laid at (Johnson’s) feet. I certainly couldn’t do the work he is doing.

“ … He is solely responsible for this working the way it has. He’s just done a fantastic job. … I just wanted to recognize his efforts. There is not much we can do other than say thank you.”

Due to the success of this new initiative with Troop E, Sorrell said, other troops are contacting him about implementing a similar type program in their areas.