(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)
Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Neosho, Mo., couple have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Jasper and Newton counties.
Gregory M. Holcomb, 53, of Neosho, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, to 20 years in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Malinda Sue Willis, 49, also of Neosho, was sentenced on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014, to six years in federal prison without parole.
On April 17, 2014, Holcomb pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from January 2009 to July 13, 2011. Holcomb and other conspirators distributed methamphetamine primarily in Jasper and Newton counties. The total amount of methamphetamine that Holcomb knew was being distributed (or was responsible for assisting to distribute) during the conspiracy is in excess of 1.5 kilograms.
According to court documents, Holcomb possessed numerous firearms, traded firearms for drugs and was involved in dismantling stolen vehicles in a garage on his property. A July 11, 2011, search warrant executed at the residence Holcomb shared with Willis yielded 21 firearms, including several shotguns and an SKS assault rifle, multiple rounds of ammunition and items related to the packaging and distribution of narcotics. Agents also located approximately 200 grams of methamphetamine that was 95 to 100 percent pure, along with $1,949.
After being indictment, Holcomb fled from the Western District of Missouri and moved with Willis to Honduras for three months to evade prosecution.
Willis also pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy. Willis admitted that she assisted Holcomb, who was the main source of supply of methamphetamine in the conspiracy, by selling or distributing methamphetamine she obtained from Holcomb to other persons. Willis also assisted Holcomb in setting up methamphetamine transactions with other persons.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the police departments of Ozark, Springfield and Joplin, Mo.; the sheriff’s departments of Barry, Lawrence, Jasper and Ottawa County, Mo.; COMET (the Combined Ozarks Multi-jurisdictional Enforcement Team); the SWDTF, the Jasper County Drug Task Force, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics; the Missouri State Highway Patrol; the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol; the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation; the Eastern Shawnee Tribal Police; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; IRS-Criminal Investigation; and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
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