SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Vietnamese national has been sentenced in federal court for possessing meth to distribute and a firearm.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Hon Chau, 44, was sentenced to 14 years and two months in federal prison without parole.

In August 2022, Chau pleaded guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

Chau was arrested in February 2020, when he drove a Chrysler 200 and parked in the driveway of a Springfield residence while law enforcement officers were executing a search warrant. Officers ordered Chau to get out of his vehicle, but he refused. Instead, Chau backed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles parked behind him.

Officers broke out the driver’s side window and attempted to remove Chau from his vehicle, but Chau continued to resist and reach toward his right hip. Officers used a Taser and were able to get him out of the vehicle. Chau had a loaded semi-automatic pistol in a holster on his right hip. This pistol had been reported as stolen.

Chau had a baggie that contained 287 grams of meth inside his sweater pocket and officers found $6,943 in Chau’s vehicle.

Chau had a dozen prior state felony convictions prior to this case and had been released from the Missouri Department of Corrections less than a year earlier.