Officers with the Licking Police Department and the Texas County Sheriff’s Office assisted federal authorities in a Dent County drug investigation that resulted in federal methamphetamine charges against three men.
The FBI reported William Wind, 59, Thomas Wind, 60, and David Gray, 58, were indicted Sept. 16 by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis and taken into custody Monday.
Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, stemming from allegations that the drug ring operated from Jan. 1, 2025, through at least February 2026.
All three men are also charged with one count each of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In addition, Thomas Wind faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Federal prosecutors are seeking the civil forfeiture of three handguns and five rifles seized during the operation, according to the FBI.
The investigation was spearheaded by the FBI and supported by the Rolla Area Drug Enforcement Task Force (RADE), which includes the Rolla Police Department, Dent County Sheriff’s Office and Phelps County Sheriff’s Office. Assisting in the case alongside Licking police and the Texas County Sheriff's Office were the Salem Police Department and Missouri’s Operation Relentless Pursuit, an intelligence-led fugitive apprehension initiative.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohsen Pasha is prosecuting the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Federal officials noted the investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159to target transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign gangs and trafficking rings. Participating HSTF St. Louis agencies include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
