Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis man to 42 ½ years in prison for his role in a fatal drug robbery.

Jerell Henderson, 32, and four others agreed to rob Ladareace Pool, 26, of drugs and money on Oct. 3, 2017 in the 4700 block of Goodfellow Boulevard, where Henderson and the others were selling drugs. During the armed robbery, Pool tried to run away and was shot twice in the back.

Henderson pleaded guilty in April, as his trial was set to begin, to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, one count of conspiracy to possess one or more firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of possession, brandishing, and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking resulting in Pool’s death.

Three of Henderson’s co-defendants, Stephan Jones, Larenta Jones, and Floyd Barber, have previously been convicted in this matter. Barber awaits sentencing. Judge Autrey sentenced Larenta Jones to 30 years in prison and Stephan Jones, the driver that day, to five years on a single drug charge.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this case.