Julie M. Drake, Meth-for-Food-Stamps Scheme, MO 2023

Julie M. Drake, 48, of Nevada, Mo., has pleaded guilty to running a scheme that traded food stamps for methamphetamine and cash, federal prosecutors announced today. Drake admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud and possessing meth with intent to distribute, turning government nutrition benefits into a pipeline for drugs and illicit profit across Bates and Vernon Counties.

Between Oct. 14 and Aug. 30, 2015, Drake orchestrated an underground exchange, accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits—commonly known as food stamps—in return for meth or cash payouts worth a fraction of the card’s value. Using other people’s EBT cards and PINs, she bought groceries for herself while flooding the community with drugs. Her operation unraveled when Vernon County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at her home on Oct. 14, 2015.

Inside the master bedroom, investigators found 22 baggies of methamphetamine totaling approximately 100 grams, packaged and ready to sell. Two digital scales were stashed in the closet. A safe held $4,720 in cash. On the dresser: four EBT cards belonging to four different individuals. Surveillance footage from Wal-Mart stores in Nevada and Lamar, Mo., later confirmed Drake was the one using those cards to buy food.

In interviews with federal agents, one SNAP recipient admitted trading his benefits for a quarter ounce of meth—valued at $55.94, though the drug itself was worth only about half that. Another confessed to selling his entire EBT balance to Drake for 50 cents on the dollar. Drake would arrive at his home, call the 1-800 number on the back of the card to check the balance, then hand over cash—keeping the rest for herself and her drug supply.

Drake now faces a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison without parole, and up to 40 years behind bars. Congress mandates the range, but the final sentence will be determined by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool following a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office. A sentencing hearing is pending.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nhan D. Nguyen and Patrick Carney. Investigative work was led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, and the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department—part of a broader crackdown on SNAP fraud tied to drug trafficking in rural Missouri.