Former Cahokia High School baseball coach indicted on drug trafficking charges

UPDATE 10/2/2025: The story has been updated with additional information from school administration.

A baseball coach at Cahokia High School was indicted in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on drug trafficking charges.

Demetrius Combs, 33, faces multiple criminal charges including:

• One count of distribution of fentanyl
• Two counts of distribution of methamphetamine
• One count of possession with intent to distribute in excess of 400 grams of fentanyl
• One count of possession with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of methamphetamine
• One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The indictment alleges Combs conducted drug sales between June and August of 2023. He was arrested Thursday, Sept. 25, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis.

According to a motion from federal prosecutors, who petitioned to have Combs held in jail until trial, Combs sold drugs to an undercover St. Louis County Police Department officer on three occasions.

A warrant to search Combs’ home in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri was granted. Officers recovered $3,746 in cash and fentanyl capsules in Combs’ possession. In his car, they recovered a pistol, three cell phones and more fentanyl. And in his house, agents found “multiple firearms, two cell phones, thousands of dollars in cash, a pill press, fentanyl, meth and drug paraphernalia,” court records say.

One of the handguns was equipped with a switch that converted it to a fully automatic weapon, the pretrial motion states.

Cahokia School District 187 Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr. confirmed that Combs was employed as an assistant baseball coach and truancy officer at Cahokia High School in 2023, at the time the alleged offense took place. Combs later resigned the following summer without explanation, McCall added.

McCall said the district had no reason to suspect Combs was trafficking drugs during his multi-year employment at the high school and that he was shocked this week to learn of the criminal allegations.

“This is the first I’ve even remotely learned of any of this,” McCall said, referring to Combs’ indictment. “It came as a shock to everyone.”

McCall said law enforcement has not reached out to the district, and that there has been no indication that Combs engaged in any illegal activity on school grounds or with students.

This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 2:47 PM.