Federal court briefs 7/13/05

Former school custodian sentenced to 15 years

A Cape Girardeau man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years and six months in federal prison on one felony count of possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base. Lewis Edward Robinson, 51, appeared before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey after his conviction of having 21.8 grams of the drug at his residence packaged for distribution. Robinson was sentenced as a "career offender" based on eight prior felony convictions for crimes of violence including two counts of armed robbery, three counts of felony assault and exhibiting a firearm in an angry and threatening manner. At the time of his arrest Robinson was employed as a custodian for the Cape Girardeau public school system.

Cape man gets 15 years for cocaine distribution

Elijah J. Fisher, 24, of Cape Girardeau, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Cape Girardeau to 115 months in prison on three felony counts of distribution of cocaine base and one felony count of possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base. Fisher appeared before U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry. The sentencing stems from Fisher's conviction of selling crack cocaine to an undercover Bootheel Drug Task Force officer in Cape Girardeau on July 15, 2003, and two separate incidents where he sold crack cocaine to a SEMO Drug Task Force Officer in Cape Girardeau later that month. State law enforcement officers also found 12.8 ounces of the drug during a search of Fisher's residence on Dec. 22, 2003.

Wayne County meth bust leads to 3-year sentence

A Wayne County man was sentenced Tuesday to 36 months in prison on one felony count of manufacturing methamphetamine. Michael J. Bodimer, 24, of Lemay, Mo., was sentenced in federal court before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey. Bodimer had been convicted of making methamphetamine with two other men at an abandoned house in Wayne County in November 2004.

-- From staff reports