NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JANUARY 20, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOUR BUCHANAN COUNTY RESIDENTS SENTENCED

FOR METH CONSPIRACY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that four Buchanan County, Mo., residents were recently sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Deana Rebecca Conroy, 35, and David Lee Phinney, 28, both of Buchanan County, were sentenced in separate hearings before U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. Conroy was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison without parole. Phinney was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

Laci Dawn Hughes, 21, and Channon Ruth Campbell, 43, both of Buchanan County, were sentenced in separate hearings before U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. Hughes was sentenced to five years in federal prison without parole. Campbell was sentenced to five years of probation.

Conroy, Phinney, Hughes and Campbell each pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1 to Nov. 7, 2007. Conroy also pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. The court found that Conroy distributed more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine during the conspiracy.

Co-defendant Shannon May Garcia, 29, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced on Dec. 16, 2008, to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Joshua K. Spurgeon, 24, of Buchanan County, was sentenced on Sept. 10, 2008, to seven years in federal prison without parole. Spurgeon and Garcia pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Co-defendants James Louis Burley, 28, Maggie Jean Sell, 27, both of Buchanan County, also pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and await sentencing. The only remaining co-defendant is a Mexican national who is a fugitive.

Garcia and Hughes distributed more than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine to Conroy and others involved in the conspiracy. Garcia was arrested on a traffic stop in Clinton County, Mo., where approximately 600 grams of methamphetamine was located, in May 2007.

Conroy admitted that she distributed methamphetamine to Phinney, Burley, Campbell, Spurgeon and Sell.

Campbell also admitted that her house served as an off-load point for people coming to St. Joseph to deliver methamphetamine to Conroy.

Conroy was arrested during a traffic stop on June 19, 2007, by Buchanan County Strike Force officers who were conducting surveillance on a St. Joseph, Mo., residence that she visited. At the time of her arrest, Conroy had nearly $3,000 and 63 grams of methamphetamine in her purse.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades. It was investigated by the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Clinton County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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