Three individuals have admitted to smuggling methamphetamine and fentanyl into the Lincoln County Jail in Missouri. The group includes a former inmate, a former jail employee, and another individual.
Kevin Childers Jr., aged 37, entered a guilty plea in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Monday for one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine. His co-conspirators, Steven Williamson Jr., 36, and Brittany Spangler, 35, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charge—Williamson in May and Spangler in March.
At the time of the offense, Williamson was an inmate serving as a trustee working in the kitchen. Spangler was identified as his girlfriend. Childers managed the jail kitchen as a contract worker. According to their plea agreements, all three were involved with drugs within Lincoln County during this period.
The trio confessed to conspiring to bring fentanyl and meth into the jail between June 27, 2022, and October 6, 2022. Between September 24 and October 2 of that year, Spangler and Childers exchanged several phone calls discussing their plans. By early October at the latest, Williamson acquired a cell phone from another former jail trustee which he used to instruct Spangler on obtaining drugs and coordinating with Childers for smuggling them into the facility.
On October 6, Lincoln County jail officials discovered a contraband cell phone during a search prompted by an alert about its presence in the trustee pod. They found it alongside paper containing Childers’ contact information. Additionally, Williamson was found with nearly ten grams of methamphetamine and two capsules of fentanyl concealed within his clothing.
Sentencing dates have been set: Childers is due for sentencing on October 1; Spangler’s is scheduled for July; Williamson’s will follow in August.
The charges carry potential penalties of up to twenty years imprisonment or fines reaching $1 million—or both.
This case was investigated by both the FBI and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office with Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug handling prosecution duties.
