Amanda J. Jones, Meth Trafficking, Missouri 2023

A West Plains woman was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for possessing methamphetamine to distribute, according to a federal court in Springfield, Mo.

Amanda J. Jones, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 18 years and four months in federal prison without parole.

The sentence stems from a guilty plea entered by Jones on October 12, 2023, to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

The charges against Jones came after a Howell County sheriff's officer stopped her vehicle on March 30, 2022, for a missing registration lamp on the rear license plate. During the search of the vehicle, officers found 226.72 grams of pure methamphetamine, 210 fentanyl capsules, 12.62 grams of cocaine, and $2,615 in cash.

This was not Jones' first brush with the law. In August 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant at her residence and seized distributive amounts of fentanyl and psilocybin, along with multiple firearms and cash. In June 2022, while Jones was on bond in two separate drug-trafficking cases, law enforcement officers again seized distributive amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl from her residence.

According to court documents, Jones sold fentanyl that ultimately caused the death of a West Plains man in September 2020. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Eatmon and investigated by the Howell County, Mo., Sheriff's Department and the South Central Drug Task Force.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/west-plains-woman-sentenced-18-years-meth-trafficking