Judge sentences Pettit to seven years for possession

Thomas Stephen Pettit, 57, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a class D felony, during the Feb. 5 session of Ozark County Circuit Court. 

Pettit was sentenced to 7 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. He was sentenced under the Missouri Revised Statute 217.362 which means that Pettit is to complete an intensive long-term substance abuse program. Pursuant to a plea agreement, two additional charges of possession of a controlled substance and a charge of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia with a prior drug offense were dismissed. 

Pettit was charged in connection with a case involving the Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force. Two other defendants, Michael Peardon and Summer Luna, pleaded guilty to charges in October 2024. Peardon pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a weapon by possessing a weapon and a felony controlled substance. Luna pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance.

According to a previously filed affidavit by Ozark County Sheriff’s Lt. Matt Rhoades, the MJTF conducted a search warrant at the Isabella home of Pettit and Luna. During the search, officer found used meth pipes, which field-tested positive for the drug, in the bedroom. Officers also found three prescriptions for Clonazepam, Xanax and Celexa prescribed to a woman named Megan, in a locker at the foot of the bed.

According to the affidavit, other prescription bottles were also located in the home with other individuals’ names on the bottles for various ailments. However, those medications were not legally considered controlled substances.

At the time, Pettit told officers that his girlfriend, Luna, had gotten the pills from a house she was helping clean out. He told Rhoades where some of the pills were, but he did not mention the pills in the locker. 

In a camper trailer on the property, which was also included on the warrant, Michael D. Peardon exited and was detained. He reportedly told officers that he was living in the trailer and that there were meth pipes, meth and several firearms in the trailer. 

Officers collected a pipe, several straws, two plastic bags with white crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for meth, a rifle and two handguns.

Pettit remains in the Ozark County Jail awaiting transport to the Missouri Department of Corrections.