NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS FOR

CRACK COCAINE, ILLEGAL FIREARMS

ARREST FOLLOWED PURSUIT, SHOOT-OUT WITH POLICE

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and illegally possessing firearms. The defendant was originally arrested and charged following a police shooting incident on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007.

              Dionysus D. Spriggs, 24, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to fifteen years in federal prison without parole.

             On Oct. 31, 2008, Spriggs pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting others to possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. Spriggs also admitted that he carried a firearm during that drug-trafficking crime.

             Spriggs was arrested after law enforcement officers attempted to conduct a car stop on the green Pontiac he was driving near 71^st Street and Prospect on Aug. 7, 2007. When officers activated their emergency lights and siren, the Pontiac failed to stop and the rear passenger, sitting behind the driver, turned around and pointed a semi-automatic handgun at the officers. A car chase ensued.

              The Pontiac continued northbound on Prospect at a high rate of speed until it reached 51st Street, where the driver lost control and the vehicle left the roadway and struck a fence. Spriggs dropped a Ruger 9 mm pistol as he fled from the car; he was apprehended after a foot chase.

             Co-defendant Demetrius Briggs, 24, of Kansas City, was apprehended from the back seat of the vehicle. Briggs pleaded guilty to distributing 50 grams or more of crack cocaine and will be sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009.

             Co-defendant Montae T. Robertson, 21, of Kansas City, was apprehended from the front of the vehicle. Robertson was sentenced on Dec. 1, 2008, to five years in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty aiding and abetting others to possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine and carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime.

             Deandre T. Clay, 21, of Kansas City, a passenger in the rear seat of the vehicle, was also apprehended. Clay, who was suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower back, was transported by ambulance to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.

             Following the arrests, police officers found a loaded Sturm Ruger 7.62 x 39 semi-automatic assault rifle and a loaded Smith and Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the car, along with crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.