Note: the podcast is an interview with one of Juan Toscano’s attorneys, Steve Sokoloff. It is as my former friend Megan Fox would say, “classic Volpe.”
A recent press release from the Dunklin County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) is giving many folks in southeast Missouri hope that the federal government is finally going to crack down on illegal immigration in that area.
On January 13, 2026, the DCSO issued the following statement.
Today, the Dunklin County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Homeland Security, the Kennett Police Department, and the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force (SEMO DTF), assisted Missouri Department of Revenue investigators with the execution of a search warrant and several knock-and-talks at multiple residences throughout Dunklin County.
These actions were conducted as part of an ongoing investigation related to fraudulent identification documents. During the operation, investigators followed up on leads and gathered information relevant to the case.
It is important to note that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took no part in this investigation.
This investigation remains active, and additional details will be released as they become available.
Authorities have been tight lipped about details. I reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by email but received no response.
A message left with DCSO was also left unreturned.
The crime ring of Dunklin County
For years, a ring has operated in Dunklin County which profits off facilitating illegal immigrants.
Most people are afraid to speak about this ring, but Adam Squires is an exception.
He’s recently tangled with a key member of this loosely knit group, Juan Toscano.
Toscano is a local entrepreneur who owns the West 84 Motel in Kennett, Missouri.
Squires and others said that along with legitimate lodging, the hotel serves as a transit stop for human trafficking.
David Rice runs Hick Christian, and he has documented Toscano’s malfeasance, including inside the West 84 Motel.
In a recent article, he included photos inside the West 84 Motel.
“You can see inside there and the conditions are terrible,” Rice said. “There’s people pretty much stacked on top of each other.”
He further noted that those were conditions provided for illegal immigrants.
Toscano has sued Squires, and he’s filed a protective order against him.
Last month, Squires lost a trial in the slander case and was ordered to pay $5,000.
Toscano’s attorney in the case, Jim McClellan, provided this statement.
“The jury was out for 10 minutes and found Squires slandered Tuscano and awarded my client $5,000.00.” McClellan said.
Squires said the slander case was ostensibly not about any participation in illegal immigration activities
but an allegation that Toscano had previous convictions which were expunged.
While the jury ruled against him, Squires, who represented himself, said Toscano asked for $1 million.
The Fix
Hick Christian has done a series detailing how Toscano, using his position as a court translator, bails out
illegal immigrants, finds them a powerful lawyer, and charges are quickly dismissed.
On December 14, 2025, he published the article September 14, 2025: The Night Eric Mayberry Died.
Mayberry, according to the article, died while driving on US Highway 412 when he was struck by an illegal immigrant named Alan Eduardo Ocanas Gomez.
Mayberry was hit and killed on September 14; Gomez was arrested the next day and on September 16, 2025, Toscano posted Gomez’s bail.
The article continued.
The court receipt is clear: Juan R. Toscano paid $500 cash bond to free the man who killed Eric Mayberry. Within 24 hours of his arrest, Gomez walked free—represented by Kennett City Attorney Terry McVey, the same lawyer who serves as municipal prosecutor while simultaneously defending the people he should be prosecuting.
Eric Mayberry was 58 years old. He lived in Paragould, Arkansas. He left behind a daughter, her children, and a girlfriend. And he’s dead because a protection network spanning from Kennett, Missouri to the FBI in Washington, D.C. has spent years ensuring that certain people never face consequences—no matter who they kill.
McVey, identified as the attorney most likely to handle these kinds of cases, did not respond to an email for comment at his law firm.
In another article, Rice explained the scheme further.
The answer may lie in what happened next.
Sources indicate that before turning himself in, Gomez met with Juan Toscano and Terry McVey to “get their story together.”
This coordination appears consistent with a broader pattern I’ve documented in my ongoing investigation of corruption in Kennett, where local business interests depend on maintaining access to cheap, plentiful labor.
As I reported in ‘Missouri’s Metamorphosis, Toscano allegedly operates as what sources describe as a criminal fixer, “charging a minimum of $1,000 per migrant to eliminate charges” while coordinating with McVey to orchestrate case dismissals and allegedly providing fraudulent Social Security cards to restaurant workers.
A jailer told Rice that Toscano acted as a “middleman for clients.”
Toscano’s goons
Toscano did not return an email for comment, but two of his attorneys were chatty.
McClellan continued, “There is no supporting evidence that my client has done anything wrong. He helps Hispanic and other people but no illegals.”
When I asked specific follow questions, McClellan declined comment, “Please contact him not me. I don’t have time for this.”
McClellan then demanded that all questions cease.
Unprompted, another attorney, Steve Sokoloff, contacted me.
Sokoloff denied that Toscano fixes court cases for illegal immigrants, but he also declined to answer any specific charges, “I’m not getting into any specifics related to him.”
He also issued a lawsuit threat, “There’s a judgment against Mr. Squires for slander that’s been entered by a jury, and your repeating any of the elements of that information may subject you to liability as well.”
Post-Script
This article was originally supposed to be published in a big conservative website, but that fell through. It looks like neither the MSM nor conservative media have any appetite for this story. I have started a new fundraiser to bring this story to life. Find it here.
