Man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for distributing cocaine in Southern Ill.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (KMOV) - A man will serve time for drug trafficking in Southern Illinois.

An indictment filed on Jan. 4, 2018, charged that Samuel Ruben Caraway, 46, was the ringleader of a Houston-based group that sold more than $4M worth of cocaine through Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Georgia. Documents show he and eight other co-defendants were on the indictment.

During the investigation, officials found $1.2M cash, along with $72,000 in jewelry. Caraway was captured in Texas in July 2021, after being a fugitive for more than three and a half years. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and five years of supervised release for his part in a drug trafficking conspiracy.