Ryan Roger Ellingboe, Methamphetamine Distribution, Missouri 2015

A second Columbia man has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Boone County and elsewhere.

Ryan Roger Ellingboe, 40, of Columbia, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to the charge contained in a June 15, 2015, federal indictment.

Ellingboe and his co-defendant, Shane Alan Callahan, 30, of Columbia, each pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from April 2015 to May 14, 2015.

A deputy with the St. Charles County, Mo., Sheriff’s office stopped a Cadillac Escalade driven by Ellingboe for a traffic violation on May 14, 2015. Callahan was a passenger in the vehicle.

The deputy smelled burnt marijuana upon approaching the vehicle and conducted a search of the vehicle. The deputy found a vacuum-sealed bag that contained approximately one pound of methamphetamine behind the glove box.

Ellingboe and Callahan told law enforcement officers they had traveled from Columbia that morning to meet a customer in St. Charles, Mo., who wanted to purchase the methamphetamine. Callahan stated that he was brokering the methamphetamine transaction between Ellingboe and another individual.

Under federal statutes, Ellingboe 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, plus a fine up to $10 million.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/second-columbia-man-pleads-guilty-meth-conspiracy