Man Charged With Selling Heroin to Undercover Officer in Wentzville

St. Charles County Drug Task Force members said the man sold 10 doses of heroin to a detective.

A man is accused of selling an undercover officer 10 doses of heroin Jan. 10 at 910 Main Plaza Drive in Wentzville. Bryan J. Hallemeyer, 27, of the 2500 block of Oak Forest Drive in Troy, was charged Feb. 4 with distributing a controlled substance. A St. Charles County Drug Task Force detective said Hallemeyer agreed to meet with him to sell him the heroin. The detective said he saw Hallemeyer drive to the location and handed 10 doses of heroin to another man. Hallemeyer told the other man to throw the heroin into the detective’s car through an open window, according to the report. Hallemeyer acknowledged he was at the drug deal, but denied selling the heroin, according to court documents. He was being held in Lincoln County jail on Monday…

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Police: Man Nabbed For Making Meth Five Months After Lab Explosion Burned Woman

In September, a meth lab exploded in a barn on the man's property near Wentzille, injuring a woman.

A St. Charles County man faces a second methamphetamine charge about five months after a meth lab exploded on his property near Wentzville, burning a woman and setting fire to his barn. Dale Lenze Sr., 53, was charged Jan. 31 with attempt to manufacture a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. A St. Charles County Sheriff’s deputy accompanied a Social Services employee to check on the welfare of children living in a home in the 2800 block of Essex Street in St. Charles County near St. Charles. Inside the home, the deputy smelled a strong chemical odor and spotted several ingredients commonly used to cook meth. He alerted the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force, which sent a …

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Task Force Arrests Man for Heroin Dealing, Possessing Meds

Lake Saint Louis area resident also possessed morphine, Xanax, lyrica and hydrocodone, a St. Charles County Drug Task Force member said.

A St. Charles County man was charged July 24 in with attempting distribute heroin and illegal possession of several prescription drugs. Laron Miller, 33, of the 100 block of Oakfield Drive in St. Charles County in the Lake Saint Louis area, faces one count of attempting to distribute heroin and four counts of possession of illegal possession of prescription medications. According to a St. Charles County Drug Task Force report, detectives executing a search warrant found Miller had several controlled substances: Drug Task Force members said Harris also had a blender, scales, capsules, pips and plastic bags all used to sell or use heroin. Bond was set at $25,000 cash only. For more crime information on Wentzville Patch, see the following …

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Deputies Say They're Tired of Waiting, Ask St. Charles County to Fix Salary Issues

County Council members want to re-examine a 2008 pay study on addressing salary issues before the economic recession hit before taking more steps. The council did not vote on restoring a one-time pay hike for long-time sheriff's department employees.

Deputy Scott Ginnever and other St. Charles County law enforcement officers asked St. Charles County Council members to restore a pay raise to deputies and to address a confusing pay scale for all employees. “It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m on government assistance,” Ginnever told council members during their Monday meeting. “I have an EBT (electronic benefit transfer for food stamps) card to pay for groceries.” He has eight children, and his wife doesn’t work, Ginnever said. He works overtime and other jobs to meet expenses. Meanwhile, pay advances haven’t come regularly, he said. Paramount among deputies' frustrations is that those with 10 or more years of experience in law enforcement don’t make much more than rookie officers, he said…

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Wake Up Wentzville

Wake Up Wentzville: Dec. 21 Edition

All the news you need for Wednesday, Dec. 21.

Good morning Wentzville! Welcome to the column that will help you get through the day. Every Monday through Friday, we'll tell you what's going on around town, what you need to know and where the traffic snags might be. Have a suggestion to make Wentzville Patch more helpful? Leave a comment or drop me an email at maggie.rotermund@patch.com. Do you use social media? Check us out on Facebook and Twitter. 

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County Council Hears from Law Enforcement on Budget

Deputies testify about an uneven pay scale.

Law enforcement officials urged members of the St. Charles County Council to reconfigure the county sheriff department’s pay scale. The council on Monday held its public hearing for the 2012 budget. A good majority of the comments emanated from county law enforcement officials who argued that the uneven pay scale drove personnel to other departments. [Click here to read a previous Patch article about that issue.] Bret Jansen, a detective with the St. Charles County Sheriff Department, told the council that he and another member of his agency make the same amount of money – roughly $44,088 – as somebody who has far less experience. “How could that possibly be that a guy with four years makes the same amount as a guy with 23 years on him?” …

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Budget Session Focuses on Sheriff's Department Salaries

The St. Charles County Council looks at bringing salaries closer in line with that of the municipalities.

A 2012 budget work session Monday focused on salaries, especially for St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department law enforcement officers. “One thing I’ve been trying to work on is getting St. Charles County deputies up to the average pay of law enforcement in the municipalities,” said Council Chairman Joe Brazil, R-District 2. “My view is our deputies are underpaid.” Lt. Craig McGuire of the sheriff’s department said that over the past 10 years, 88 employees left the department; 52 of them left for other law enforcement agencies or the private sector. McGuire also read salary averages compiled from listings on stltoday.com that showed salary discrepancies between the county and municipal law enforcement agencies. Sergeants Patrolmen Brazil …

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Council Member Calls County’s ‘Next-to-Zero’ Property Tax a Slap at County Employees

Council members, mindful of departing sheriff’s deputies, discuss raising 2012 tax rate as city employees have faced no raises, layoffs and furloughs.

While setting St Charles County’s 2011 property tax, one St. Charles County Council member noted that county employees have gone without raises, endured layoffs, furloughs—mandatory leave without pay—and budget cuts for two years. “This property tax rate is a slap in the face to every county employee,” said Councilman Jerry Daugherty, D-District 6, during the council meeting Monday. “If we don’t have any more respect for the employees of St. Charles County than that, we deserve to lose every one,” said Daugherty, of Portage de Sioux. “You can’t keep robbing Peter to pay Paul.” His comments initially were about the 2011 property tax rate, which are due Dec. 31, but Daugherty amended his comments to the 2012 property tax rate, which would …

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Update: St. Charles County Man Killed Himself After Driving Girl to Warren County

Police said the man committed suicide; the 12-year-old girl who was a voluntary passenger, was unharmed.

A 46-year-old St Charles County man killed himself after taking a 12-year-old to a rural part of Warren County, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports. Earlier, Patch.com reported that the 12-year-old had been found unharmed in Warren County. A St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the child was a runaway, but law enforcement officials had treated the case as an abduction. Lt. Craig McGuire said the child got into the U-Haul van voluntarily with the man after telling her mother she was going to a friend’s house. Family members could not reach the man by cellphone. According to the Post Dispatch report, the girl went to a nearby home at about 1:30 p.m. and called family members to tell them the man had shot himself. …

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Warrant Issued in Christmas Eve Shooting

Wentzville man charged with first-degree assault.

A warrant was issued today in connection with a shooting Friday morning. According to the St. Charles County Circuit Court's Criminal Division, the arrest warrant charges Paul J. Morrison, 44, of Wentzville, with first-degree assault.  Morrison was already in the St. Charles County Jail, having turned himself into police Friday. According to Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department, Morrison gave investigators a statement implicating himself in the crime. Morrison allegedly shot his estranged wife's boyfriend in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve.  According to the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department, the shooting occurred before 5 a.m. Friday, Dec. 24. "At 5:16 a.m. we received a call to come to St. …

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