Violent Crime Wave Crushed in Southwest Missouri

⏱ 3 min read

A week-long blitz by federal, state, and local law enforcement has netted 101 arrests in Southwest Missouri. The suspects face a staggering array of charges, including firearms, narcotics, and sex offenses.

Operation Spring Cleaning kicked off on March 17th and wrapped up on March 19th, with 85 federal indictments handed down against the defendants. The crackdown targeted some of the most violent offenders in the Springfield and Joplin metropolitan areas.

Law enforcement seized a staggering haul of evidence during the operation, including 141 firearms, 11.21 pounds of cocaine, 1.5 pounds of fentanyl, 204.89 pounds of marijuana, 88.14 pounds of methamphetamine, and 2.06 pounds of psilocyn.

The arrests also yielded a major breakthrough in a decades-old cold case: a CODIS hit in an unsolved rape investigation. One suspect was arrested on a state warrant for first-degree murder, and another for a slew of sex offenses.

U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Price hailed the operation as a model for interagency cooperation in the fight against violent crime.