East Prairie woman is sentenced on drug charges

CAPE GIRARDEAU - An East Prairie woman was sentenced to prison on federal drug charges Monday.

Elsie Gorostiza, 48, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 51 months in prison on one felony count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Upon release from prison, Gorostiza will be placed on supervised release for a period of three years.

Previously with her plea, Gorostiza admitted that after conducting controlled purchases of methamphetamine from her on May 2 and May 4, SEMO Drug Task Force officers and DEA Agents executed a search warrant at her residence in East Prairie. Located in the residence was 4.83 grams of actual methamphetamine, $1,162 USC, ($400 of which had been buy money from the investigation), a set of digital gram scales and various items of drug paraphernalia.

Gorostiza admitted to a DEA special agent that she had sold methamphetamine in order to pay her bills.

Also three area residents entered guilty pleas on federal felony drug charges Monday.

Cory Rowe, 36, of Howardville entered a plea of guilty to two felony counts of distribution of cocaine base. Rowe now faces a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment and a $1,00,000 fine, followed by a period of supervised release of at least three years.

Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. July 24, in Cape Girardeau.

With his plea, Rowe admitted he gave the informant a total of 4.6 grams of cocaine base in exchange for $260. Then on March 22, Rowe distributed a substance containing cocaine base to the informant for $250. Both sales occurred at Rowe's residence in New Madrid County and were captured on videotape.

Vincent Grays, 35, of Carbondale, Ill., entered a plea of guilty to one felony count of possession of 50 grams or more of cocaine base with intent to distribute. Gray now faces a maximum of life imprisonment and a $4,000,000 fine, followed by a period of supervised release of at least eight years. Sentencing is set for 3 p.m. July 24 in Cape Girardeau.

With his plea, Grays admitted that on or about Jan. 21, he distributed a substance containing cocaine base (also referred to as "crack") to a confidential informant . After Grays handed the informant 51.6 grams of cocaine base, the informant gave the defendant $1,200. The sale occurred in the a strip mall parking lot in Sikeston and was captured on videotape.

Dannie Isom Ricks, 29, of Caruthersville, pled guilty to one felony count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

On Jan. 28, an informant working with the officers tried to make a purchase of a controlled substance from an individual, who took $20 from the confidential informant and walked over to Ricks, who was observed taking a small bag out of his pocket that appeared to contain crack cocaine. Ricks then gave something to the individual.

The officer at the scene called for backup and identified Danny Ricks as carrying a quantity of suspected crack cocaine. The officers arrived and a chase began. While running, Ricks took off a coat he was wearing and tossed it to the ground. When he did that, a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver fell out of one of the coat pockets on the ground. Ricks was captured a short while later and the pistol was recovered. The pistol had previously been reported as stolen in Lebanon, Tenn.

Due to his previous felony convictions, Ricks is forbidden by law to possess firearms. He now faces a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for July 24.