(File photo)
(Cape Girardeau) – The owner of a 350-acre concert venue and camping area in Shannon County has pleaded guilty to Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premises.
44-year-old James Tebeau of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty to the charges on June 12. He will be sentenced September 4.
According to the plea and court documents, from 2004 until October 2010, Tebeau managed a campground consisting of approximately 350 acres known as Camp Zoe, which hosted various weekend music festivals from April through October, the most popular ones known as “Schwagstock” or “Spookstock”. Those festivals would normally be held from April through October on a monthly basis, and would last for three days.
A press release from the Eastern Missouri District US Attorney’s Office in Cape Girardeau says that Tebeau admitted that he was responsible for the operation of the camp, and while Tebeau did not participate in any drug sales or receive money from the sales, he did admit that he was aware of the drug use and had instructed his employees that certain types of drugs were permissible in the campground, like marijuana, LSD and mushrooms, but had instructed them to eject persons who sold crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin or nitrous oxide gas.
In August 2006, the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested two individuals who had been selling illegal mushrooms at Camp Zoe. During a four-year investigation, the release says that officers made over 150 undercover purchases of illegal drugs that included marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, ecstacy, cocaine, LSD, MDMA, opium, moonshine and products such as homemade cookies and cakes containing hashish oil. Officers reportedly observed 100 to 200 drug sellers at each festival, and estimated that the total amount of illegal drugs sold in the camp during a typical Schwagstock festival was approximately $500,000 per event.
Tebeau’s agreed sentence is 30 months imprisonment, but the agreement also allows Tebeau to appeal the District Court’s denial of his Motion to Dismiss the Indictment. Tebeau was also forced to forfeit the 350 acre campground to the government.
This case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Shannon County Sheriff’s Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.