Stockard pleads guilty to federal weapons, drug charges; forfeits more than 200 guns

Shawn Dennis Stockard

A former Cape Girardeau restaurant owner and food truck operator has pleaded guilty in federal court to unlawful interstate transportation of a firearm and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

According to a document filed June 17 in federal court, Shawn Dennis Stockard pleaded guilty to the charges with the promise from the federal government that “no further federal prosecution of the defendant will be brought in this district relative to other uncharged federal crimes of which the government is aware at this time”. Stockard had faced additional illegal weapon transportation charges from different dates before agreeing to the plea deal, according to court documents.

As a result of the plea deal, Stockard agreed to forfeit 215 firearms. Stockard told agents he had been using another person’s license, with his permission, to acquire firearms at an auction house in Illinois. He told officers the gun seller would then transfer the guns to Stockard’s wife through a background check process.

“In early 2022, Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were in possession of information that Shawn Dennis Stockard was illegally buying and selling firearms and that he possessed firearms at a residence he shared with his wife, Stephanie Rana Stockard, in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri,” the plea deal states. “Agents were also aware that Stockard had been convicted in the criminal court of Knox County Tennessee on July 31, 1992 … of the felony offenses of distribution of marijuana and attempted possession of LSD with intent to sell and as a result could not lawfully possess firearms.”

According to the plea document, the maximum penalty for the unlawful interstate transportation of a firearm is five years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The plea document recommends a lesser sentence because Stockard “has clearly demonstrated acceptance of responsibility.”

When Cape Girardeau police pulled over Shawn Stockard on Feb. 4, they found clonazepam in in his pockets. They later found hydrocodone pills, tramadol pills and a third bottle of clonazepam in his vehicle. They also found two pairs of brass knuckles and more than $300 in cash. A passenger told police that Stockard had provided clonazepam to them. “By this plea the defendant is admitting that he knowingly possessed Clonazepam, a controlled substance, and that he did so with the intent to distribute some or all of it to another person,” the document states. The maximum sentence for the drug charge is also five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Clonazepam is a drug used for panic disorder and epilepsy. According to www.drugabuse.com, when abused, benzodiazepines such as clonazepam can create a euphoric high and a sense of calm, marked by diminished worry and anxiety.

Stockard was indicted on the weapons charge in October and the drug charge in March.

Stockard owns and operates Stockards Cajun Shack & More, which was commonly set up in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. He also owns rental properties.

A Cape Girardeau municipal employee told the Southeast Missourian in March that while Stockard had applied for a business license for the food truck, the city had not yet issued the license for him to sell food.

Stockard’s father, Dennis Stockard, bought Broussard’s restaurant from the restaurant’s original owner, Baron Broussard in 1991. Shawn Stockard Sr. took over the restaurant around 2001, then sold it to Hunter and Stephanie Clark in 2004.