A Springfield, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for leading a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine.
Christopher A. Jefferson, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 25 years in federal prison without parole. Jefferson, who has two prior state convictions for distribution/delivery of a controlled substance, was sentenced as a career offender due to his prior drug-trafficking convictions. Jefferson owned a car repair business in Springfield.
On Oct. 25, 2018, Jefferson pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy that lasted from Dec. 2, 2016, to Jan. 23, 2018. During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers seized a total of 5.342 kilograms of methamphetamine from various co-conspirators.
Jefferson frequently used women to transport illegal drugs, including large quantities of methamphetamine in vehicles and smaller quantities of cocaine and heroin hidden inside of their vaginas. They were paid to drive to Texas, Arizona, or California to pick up methamphetamine and other drugs and transport them back to Springfield. Several women admitted they made multiple trips to acquire illegal drugs, sometimes in multi-kilogram quantities.
Co-defendant Kathy J. Alexander, 62, of Springfield, was arrested while driving through Amarillo, Texas, on Jan. 11, 2016, with a half-pound of heroin and six pounds of methamphetamine that she was transporting from Arizona to Springfield. Alexander had also been stopped, but not arrested, on Dec. 2, 2014, by law enforcement officers in Oklahoma while she was transporting five ounces of heroin hidden in her underwear. Alexander admitted that she had made 14 drug-transporting excursions, averaging one trip each month, for which she was paid $500 per trip. Alexander pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in federal prison without parole.
Co-defendants Davetta F. Hicks, 31, and Shawn B. Robinson, 48, both of Springfield, were arrested on Dec. 9, 2014, by Kingsville, Texas, police officers. This was their third trip to Texas for Jefferson. Officers found a half-pound of methamphetamine in Hicks’s purse. Hicks admitted that she made three trips to Texas to transport cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to Springfield. Hicks pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Robinson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in federal prison without parole.
Undercover law enforcement officers also purchased methamphetamine from Jefferson’s distributors. Undercover officers purchased a total of 115 grams of methamphetamine in six separate purchases, all of which was supplied by Jefferson.
On one occasion, according to court documents, conspirators traveled to California with a large amount of money to purchase methamphetamine. Once in California, they purchased 12 pounds of methamphetamine that was shipped to Springfield.
On another occasion, conspirators attached a four-pound package of methamphetamine to the front bumper of their vehicle and drove back to Springfield. During the return trip, however, Maricopa County, Arizona, law enforcement officers arrested them and seized the methamphetamine.
On two occasions, a co-conspirator carried two kilograms of methamphetamine to Springfield aboard a commercial bus.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull II. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, and COMET (the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team).
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