Columbia Man Sentenced for Meth Conspiracy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Columbia, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Douglas Marion Pryor, 55, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to seven years in federal prison without parole.

On Jan. 19, 2017, Pryor pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Boone, Cooper, Lafayette and Jackson Counties in Missouri from Aug. 25, 2015, to Jan. 11, 2016.

Pryor admitted that he had distributed approximately 40 to 50 pounds of methamphetamine since 2012. Pryor was arrested on Jan. 11, 2016, during a traffic stop in Boonville. Officers found a green bag in the back seat of his vehicle, which contained a pill bottle with six plastic bag corners of methamphetamine.

Co-defendant Gregory Alan Kennedy, 53, of Boonville, Mo., traveled to Kansas City, Mo., to pick up a large quantity of methamphetamine for Pryor on Aug. 25, 2015. Kennedy transported the methamphetamine from Kansas City to Boonville and was arrested just outside the city limits during a traffic stop. Officers located approximately one pound of methamphetamine hidden in the dashboard of his vehicle. Kennedy told investigators that Pryor had offered to pay him $700 to pick up the methamphetamine and bring it to Boonville, where Pryor would pick it up.

Co-defendant Matthew Allen Hampton, 35, of Franklin, Mo., was delivering approximately two pounds of methamphetamine to Pryor when he was stopped by Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers on I-70 in Lafayette County on Oct. 14, 2015. Hampton told investigators they had 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. 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.

Pryor is the second defendant to be sentenced in this case. Co-defendant Joseph Nicko Winters, 45, of Independence, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole. Hampton and Kennedy have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Cooper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lafayette County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson County Drug Task Force and the East Central Drug Task Force.