JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Franklin, Mo., man and a Boonville, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to drug-trafficking charges.
Matthew Allen Hampton, 35, of Franklin, and Gregory Alan Kennedy, 53, of Boonville, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge William A. Knox to the charges contained in a July 20, 2016, superseding indictment.
By pleading guilty today, Hampton admitted he participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Boone, Cooper, Lafayette and Jackson Counties in Missouri from Aug. 25, 2015, to Jan. 11, 2016. Kennedy pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
Co-defendants Douglas Marion Pryor, 54, of Columbia, and Joseph Nicko Winters have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Pryor is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24, 2017. Winters, who also pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine, possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16, 2017.
Hampton admitted that he was in possession of approximately two pounds of methamphetamine when he was stopped by Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers on I-70 in Lafayette County on Oct. 14, 2015. In addition to the methamphetamine, troopers found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and $3,353 in the vehicle. Hampton told investigators that Pryor had supplied him with the methamphetamine. They met in Pryor’s room at Harrah’s Casino in Kansas City, Mo., where Pryor handed him the methamphetamine and agreed to pay him $500 if he drove the methamphetamine back. Hampton admitted he had been dealing for Pryor for three or four months, and had moved approximately three to five pounds of methamphetamine in the last three months.
Law enforcement officers contacted Hampton again on Nov. 24, 2015, at the Isle of Capri Hotel/Casino in Boonville, Mo. Hampton had a plastic bag that contained methamphetamine in his pants pocket and a blue plastic glove that contained 93.1 grams of methamphetamine in a coat pocket. Hampton told officers he received the methamphetamine from Pryor.
A Cooper County sheriff’s deputy initiated a traffic stop of Kennedy near the city limits of Boonville on Aug. 25, 2015. Officers located approximately one pound of methamphetamine hidden in the dashboard of the vehicle. Kennedy identified Pryor as the person for whom he was transporting the methamphetamine. Kennedy stated that Pryor told him he would pay him $700 to pick up what he believed to be marijuana and drive it to his residence, where Pryor would pick it up.
Under federal statutes, Hampton is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. Kennedy is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Miller. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cooper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the East Central Drug Task Force.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
