Springfield Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Meth Trafficking, Illegal Firearms

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Missouri, man has been sentenced in federal court for methamphetamine trafficking and illegally possessing firearms.

Tyler J. Brown, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Wednesday, June 3, to 12 years in federal prison without parole.

On Sept. 11, 2019, Brown pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

Brown was arrested on Dec. 25, 2017, when Springfield police officers found him passed out in the driver’s seat of a Pontiac Grand Am. The vehicle was parked, with the engine running, at the intersection of North Grant Avenue and West Calhoun Street. Officers found two firearms in the car with Brown.

A loaded Pioneer Arms 7.62mm semi-automatic pistol was sitting muzzle-end down, in the passenger floorboard, with the handle of the firearm leaning toward the driver’s seat. Brown’s right hand rested next to the firearm, with his last two fingers touching the end of the firearm. While removing the first firearm, an officer saw a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol resting near Brown’s right side.

Officers were able to wake Brown up and place him under arrest. Brown was in possession of $2,666 and had a plastic baggie in his pocket that contained 1.45 grams of methamphetamine. He was wearing body armor beneath his shirt. Officers searched the car and found a black backpack in the front passenger seat. Inside the backpack was a glass jar that contained 71.44 grams of methamphetamine, a distributive amount, and a black and silver box that contained 3.46 grams of methamphetamine.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nhan D. Nguyen and Josephine L. Stockard. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department. 

OCDETF
This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.  The OCDETF program is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s drug supply reduction strategy.  OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.  Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.