KC, St. Louis Area Residents Indicted for $8.5 Million Meth Conspiracy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A dozen residents in the Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis, Mo., areas have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in an $8.5 million drug-trafficking conspiracy that distributed more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine over two years.

Trevor Scott Sparks, 29, Gerald L. Ginnings, 38, Gloria May Jones, 29, Vicente Araujo, 22, Leslie Ladon Walker, 31, and Paul J. Kibodeaux, 35, all of Kansas City, Mo.; Markus Michael A. Patterson, 36, of Grandview, Mo.; David Robert Richards II, 31, of Louisburg, Kan.; Christian Douglas Hansen, 39, of St. Louis, Mo.; and Stephanie Thurmond, 28, Leeanna Michelle Schroeder, 25, and Adam Joseph Mainieri, 30, all of Winfield, Mo.; were charged in a four-count superseding indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. That indictment was unsealed and made public upon the arrests of several defendants.

The federal indictment alleges that 11 of the defendants (with the exception of Sparks) participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 12, 2018. According to the indictment, conspirators received $8,508,500 in exchange for the unlawful distribution of more than 1,001 pounds (455 kilograms) of methamphetamine, based on an average street price of $8,500 per pound of methamphetamine.

Sparks is charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise that involved the distribution of methamphetamine. According to the indictment, Sparks was the principal leader of the criminal enterprise and obtained substantial income from the criminal enterprise.

All 12 of the defendants are also charged with participating in a money-laundering conspiracy during that time to use drug sale proceeds to promote the drug-trafficking conspiracy and to conceal the proceeds of that drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Eleven of the defendants (with the exception of Kibodeaux) are charged together with possessing firearms in furtherance of violent crimes and drug-trafficking crimes.

Ginnings, Sparks, Patterson, Jones, Hansen and Mainieri also are charged together in one count of being felons in possession of firearms and ammunition.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the defendants to forfeit to the government any property obtained from the proceeds of the drug-trafficking conspiracy, including a money judgment of $8,508,500.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and the Jackson County Drug Task Force.