KC Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Meth Trafficking

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing nearly five kilograms of methamphetamine to distribute during a law enforcement operation in which another individual was fatally shot.

Michael J. Wilkins, 27, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 25 years in federal prison without parole.

Wilkins pleaded guilty on Feb. 6, 2018, to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Wilkins admitted that he was a leader of a major methamphetamine distribution operation. Wilkins, under surveillance by law enforcement, was seen entering a known methamphetamine stash house in the 3000 block of S. Bellefontaine Avenue in Kansas City, Mo., on June 8, 2016. When Wilkins left the house, he was carrying a box and a backpack, which he placed in his vehicle.

Law enforcement officers approached Wilkins while he was getting into his vehicle and attempted to detain him. Wilkins fled on foot and was subsequently taken into custody. In his path of flight, which was captured by the National Guard counterdrug helicopter surveillance, officers recovered one of his shoes, his cell phone and a handgun.

Officers executed a search warrant on Wilkins’s vehicle and found 4,764 grams of methamphetamine and $12,363 in the box and backpack he had carried from the stash house.

During the foot chase of Wilkins, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the Bellefontaine residence. That operation led to an hours-long standoff when persons inside the house fired shots at law enforcement officers. Luis Carlos Garcia-Aguilar, also known as “Moe,” fired several shots at officers then ran from the house with his rifle aimed at the officers; he was fatally shot.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Moeder. It was investigated by the Jackson County Drug Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.