Jefferson City Man Pleads Guilty to Meth Conspiracy

A 25-year-old Jefferson City man has pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Cole County.

The United States Attorney's Office says Jasper Jarrard Richmond was arrested on Oct. 6, 2016 while driving back from Oklahoma City, where he had picked up a pound of methamphetamine to distribute locally.

Authorities say Richmond admitted that he wanted to help a co-defendant, 28-year-old Jameson Trevor Smith of Lake Ozark, pay a drug debt. Smith pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and was sentenced in June to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

Richmond is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole.

Press release from the United States Attorney's Office of the Western District of Missouri (February 6, 2018)

Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jefferson City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy that distributed multiple pounds of methamphetamine in Cole County, Mo.

Jasper Jarrard Richmond, 25, of Jefferson City, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Cole County from July 22, 2015, to Oct. 6, 2016.

Richmond was arrested on Oct. 6, 2016, while driving back from Oklahoma City, where he had picked up a pound of methamphetamine to distribute locally. Richmond admitted that he wanted to help co-defendant Jameson Trevor Smith, 28, of Lake Ozark, Mo., pay a drug debt. Smith had been arrested with two pounds of methamphetamine in his possession; as a result, they owed their suppliers approximately $70,000.

Richmond admitted that he started to transport methamphetamine from St. Louis, Mo., for an organization after his release from prison in the summer of 2015. In 2015, Richmond estimated that he had transported approximately four pounds of methamphetamine during that time. Of that amount, he received approximately one pound to distribute himself. Richmond asked Smith, whom he had met in prison, to assist him with the distribution of methamphetamine. In the summer of 2016, Richmond made another trip to St. Louis and obtained approximately five pounds of methamphetamine, of which he and Smith distributed approximately two pounds.

Smith pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and was sentenced on June 29, 2017, to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

Under federal statutes, Richmond is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Oliver. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics Group (MUSTANG), the Cole County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Jefferson City, Mo., Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.