A long-running drug-trafficking and money-laundering scheme has landed a St. Louis man in federal prison for 15 years. Derek Rockette, 53, admitted earlier this year that he helped move drug money across state lines and overseas, pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances, conspiring to launder money and possessing a firearm as a felon. Investigators say the operation relied on cash drops, ATM deposits and trade-based transfers tied to groups in China and Mexico.
U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced the sentence in a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. According to that release, Rockette pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court imposed the 15-year sentence on July 20, 2026.
How investigators traced the cash
A 2021 indictment from the Drug Enforcement Administration laid out how the money moved, describing bulk ATM deposits that fed accounts later wired to Mexico and other laundering tactics. More than $8.5 million flowed through one set of accounts between June 4, 2018, and Sept. 12, 2019, according to the filing, which framed the case as part of a broader Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces effort targeting transnational laundering networks and money brokers.
Prosecutors say Rockette personally delivered $200,000 in May 2018 and later supplied $158,720 that was intercepted on its way to Chicago, according to court documents. In August 2018 he allegedly handed $100,000 to a DEA confidential source, a transfer investigators traced to a Chinese money-laundering group before seizing about $222,300 tied to the scheme. Officials also say Rockette paid $59,114 on Aug. 2, 2018, that was quickly deposited and wired to Mexico, and that he provided $59,800 to a Homeland Security Investigations source in October 2018, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Court record and prior convictions
Court records show Rockette pleaded guilty in 2008 in federal court to a conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, a conviction that legally barred him from possessing firearms. Prosecutors say he was arrested after fleeing officers while armed in March 2019, and that a March 23, 2021, traffic stop turned up cash and hundreds of grams of narcotics. Local coverage first highlighted the sentencing and those case details, as reported by KTTN.
The investigation drew on a multi-agency task force, and prosecutors say it fits the typical profile of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces actions aimed at money brokers and cross-border transfers. Law enforcement officials credit coordination between federal and state partners with tracing the cash flow and building the court record. The Drug Enforcement Administration has described the case as part of an OCDETF operation.
