U.S. DISTRICT COURT, EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.—The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced that Eric C. Beckley was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison today in District Court in East St. Louis for Possession With Intent to Distribute Heroin, and Felon In Possession of a Firearm offenses.
Beckley, 30, of Centreville, Illinois, pled guilty to both federal charges on October 30, 2013. He has been continuously confined since last October.
At his change of plea hearing, Beckley admitted that he had been selling heroin for about two years, and that his heroin supplier was Deborah Perkins. Perkins was arrested on January 21, 2013, a few minutes after police saw her deliver heroin to Beckley’s residence. Perkins was convicted of distributing heroin and sentenced to 324 months imprisonment on December 5, 2013.
Beckley was one of several defendants convicted of selling heroin provided by Perkins. Others include Sean McGilvery and Perkins’ son, Douglas Oliver.
At Beckley’s sentence hearing, Chief U.S. District Court Judge David R. Herndon warned Beckley that he “could have easily killed someone on any one of the occasions when you sold heroin.” Two women did in fact die from ingesting heroin at Perkins’ former residence in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
The investigation which led to Beckley’s conviction and sentence was conducted by DEA Task Force agents, and by police officers assigned to the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert L. Garrison.