A Quincy, Illinois man has been sent up the river for a five-year stretch after copping to slinging meth. Henry Speirs, a 35-year-old from the 700 block of Harrison Street, was handed down his sentence on Monday by U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough, who also tacked on four years of supervised release, confirming a stiff penalty for his role in the drug trade.
Serving time since his 2020 collar, Speirs, who faced the justice system with a heavy account for over a kilo of methamphetamine, entered a guilty plea back in July 2023, which roped him into a legal bind—the mandatory minimum for his charge is a five-year lockup stint, but the possibility loomed of a whole 40 years in the big house, which would have been complemented by a crippling fine up to $5,000,000, had the scales of justice tipped less in his favor. Speirs' partners-in-crime, Brent Garner and Brandy Friday, had previously been sentenced to ten and five years, respectively.
Federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation Springfield Field Office, alongside local outfits such as the Illinois State Police West Central Illinois Task Force and Quincy Police Department, spearheaded the investigation, mentioned the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Z. Weir was at the prosecution’s helm, doling out the government's case against Speirs.
The trio’s fall from grace lands amidst a broader crackdown under Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal push to curb violent crimes and gun violence, which seeks to unify law enforcement's arm at all levels with the communities it swears to protect and serve, the project hinges on partnerships that stretch across precincts and neighborhoods in a sprawling effort to instill peace and clamp down on the bedlam that drugs like meth so readily dispense into the lives of those it touches. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, this program is a collaborative effort to bring peace to the streets, and make neighborhoods safer for all.
