California Man Sentenced in $1 Million Meth Conspiracy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Bakersfield, Calif., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute more than $1 million worth of methamphetamine in southern Missouri and in the Kansas City, Mo., area.

Lanny Eugene Ham, 27, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to nine years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Ham to pay a money judgment of $1,060,070 for which he is jointly and severally liable.

On July 31, 2017, Ham pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and to participating in a money-laundering conspiracy. Ham assisted co-defendant Michael Ryan Nevatt, 29, of Springfield, with obtaining more than five kilograms of methamphetamine for Nevatt's organization to distribute and with collecting drug proceeds for methamphetamine delivered.

Co-defendant Kenneth Bryant Lake, 57, of Strafford, Mo., was the original head of the drug-trafficking organization, coordinating vehicle transport shipments of methamphetamine from a Mexican cartel source in Texas to Springfield. Conspirators in Springfield divided the methamphetamine for distribution to the Lebanon, Mo., and Kansas City, Mo., areas. Lake has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

Nevatt subsequently became the head of the organization and made trips to California and to Texas to purchase methamphetamine. Nevatt was convicted at trial on April 6, 2018, of all seven counts contained in a Nov. 17, 2016, federal indictment. He is the final defendant waiting to be sentenced, among 15 co-defendants who have been convicted and sentenced in this case.  

Nevatt and other conspirators made regular trips, and sometimes travelled several times a week, to pick up multiple-pound supplies of methamphetamine. For example, Nevatt traveled to Texas regularly to pick up 10 pounds of methamphetamine and bring it back to Springfield. Nevatt would later return to Texas with approximately $100,000 in cash to pay for it. On one occasion, Nevatt met sources in Dallas, Texas, to purchase 40 pounds of methamphetamine. Mexican sources also delivered multiple-pound shipments of methamphetamine by truck or car to Springfield.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bruce Rhoades and Ashleigh Ragner. It was investigated by the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Central Oklahoma Metro Interdiction Team.