NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

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

JULY 9, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARKANSAS WOMAN SENTENCED FOR METH,

MONEY LAUNDERING CONSPIRACY

FORFEITS $208,000 AND 14-ACRE PROPERTY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Mountain Home, Arkansas woman was sentenced in federal court today for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and to her role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and engage in money laundering.

Kathleen M. Novy, 50, of Mountain Home, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays this morning to six years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Novy to forfeit to the government $208,118 that was seized by law enforcement officers from her residence and vehicle, as well as a 14-acre property that was purchased with the proceeds of illegal drug trafficking.

On Dec. 10, 2008, Novy pleaded guilty to the charges contained in a Nov. 19, 2008, superseding indictment. Novy admitted that she and co-defendant Dean H. Thompson, 53, also of Mountain Home, had been purchasing large quantities of methamphetamine from sources in Kansas City since 2003. She also admitted that she had a large quantity of cash at her home, which was the proceeds of methamphetamine trafficking, and that she had used other drug proceeds to purchase a tract of land in northern Arkansas. Law enforcement officers later seized $196,895 from Novy’s residence.

Thompson was sentenced on May 18, 2009, to five years in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to his role in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Thompson also pleaded guilty to carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense.

Novy and Thompson were arrested on Aug. 14, 2008, following law enforcement surveillance of their travel to Kansas City, Mo., to purchase methamphetamine. After following Novy’s vehicle to Clinton, Mo., where a state trooper stopped the vehicle, law enforcement officers seized about three pounds of methamphetamine, $11,223 and a Taurus .40-caliber handgun from her vehicle.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Ambrose, Jr. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

****************

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at