ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon caught twice with guns and drugs to 10 years in prison.Melvin Nelson, 42, of St.
Louis County, pleaded guilty in April to one count each of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Sept. 4, 2024, the Florissant Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service were serving an arrest warrant at his home in the 2200 block of Gadbury Drive and found a handgun, $38,892 in cash and meth in pill form weighing at least 219 grams in his bedroom.
The basement contained scales, empty pill capsules and other drug paraphernalia, and an AR-style pistol and body armor in the garage. Bags containing cocaine and fentanyl were in the backyard.On August 26, 2025, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives served arrest and search warrants at Nelson's home and found a rifle, a pistol,at least 500 grams of a fentanyl mixture and drug paraphernalia.The case was investigated by the Florissant Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Dixon prosecuted the case.