On Thursday, a 36-year-old Nixa man was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in the Springfield, Missouri area. The Missouri man was accused of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and to manufacture and distribute crack cocaine between January 1, 2010 and March 14, 2011.
According to the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, the man was the leader of a drug-trafficking organization that imported multi-kilogram shipments of cocaine from Chicago and/or Dallas on a regular basis, shipments averaging two kilograms per trip. He also says the shipments were transported to Springfield, Missouri by various means, and that once they arrived, they were processed and distributed as either cocaine or crack cocaine.
In addition to charges of drug trafficking conspiracy, the man was found guilty of participating in a money-laundering conspiracy, as well as seven counts of distributing cocaine, one count of distributing crack cocaine, one count of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute, four counts of money laundering and one count of being a felon in possession of firearms.
A number of co-defendants have pleaded guilty to charges contained in a July 2011 indictment.
As we’ve pointed out before on this blog, conspiracy charges can in some cases be improperly applied to a defendant in order to snare them into more jail time or to increase the case against them. The evidence needed to obtain a conspiracy charge is sometimes dubious, and those with only loose connections to a drug operation can be implicated by even minor actions. This is not to say that is what happened in this case, but this does happen.
Source: Ozarks First, “Nixa Man Gets Life Sentence for Cocaine Conspiracy,” October 19, 2012.
