A Kentucky man, Larry Beville, 62, was sentenced on December 19, 2024, to 15 years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Following his release from prison, he will be subject to supervised release for another five years.
The case against Beville was the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation against the Chicago-based Simon City Royals gang. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations posing a threat to the US.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and Illinois State Police looked into the case. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Z. Weir represented the government in the prosecution.
At Beville’s sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless, the government presented evidence demonstrating his delivery of a kilogram of methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement officer in the Central District of Illinois, followed by his arrest in Indiana about a month later with another kilogram of methamphetamine. The jury found Beville guilty of trafficking over 600 grams of methamphetamine in total.
Beville and five co-defendants faced charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in an April 2023 indictment. Many of his co-defendants allegedly belong to the Simon City Royals street gang. One co-defendant has pleaded guilty, while the others are awaiting trial. Members of the public are reminded that the allegations in an indictment are only accusations and that a person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
In August 2024, Beville pleaded guilty. The United States Marshals Service has been holding him in jail since his arrest in April 2023.
The statutory penalty for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of real methamphetamine is at least 10 years in prison, up to life in prison, a fine of up to $10,000,000, a life sentence of supervised release, and a $100 required special assessment.
