United States Drug Enforcement Administration

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing methamphetamine to distribute when officers found large amounts of illegal drugs in his room at a Camdenton, Mo., hotel.

Anthony Martinez Harris, 49, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.

On Sept. 29, 2021, Harris was found guilty at trial of one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

On Sept. 26, 2019, employees at the Sleep Inn on Highway 54 called Camdenton police officers to remove Harris, who was under the influence of drugs and stayed past checkout time. When officers arrived and contacted Harris, who was locked out of the room, hotel staff opened the room door. Officers saw a large amount of cash on the room’s bed and a line of cocaine on the coffee table. Officers searched the room and found three-quarters of a kilogram of methamphetamine packaged for sale, a distribution amount of heroin, cocaine, PCP, and marijuana, three loaded pistols, and more than $22,000 in cash.

Harris was questioned by a Camden County, Mo., sheriff’s deputy who arrived to assist the officers. When officers searched the room they found an oblong object wrapped in camouflage fabric, which Harris identified as C-4 explosive. Officers immediately contacted the Missouri State Highway patrol bomb squad and began evacuating the hotel. The substance was later determined not to be an explosive.

After the area was deemed safe, officers searched Harris’s hotel room and found a bag in a dresser drawer that contained approximately 28 grams of methamphetamine, a bag on one of the beds that contained approximately seven grams of cocaine, a Ziploc bag on another bed that contained 18 bags of approximately 37 grams of heroin/opiates, a Dollar General bag on the same bed that contained approximately 224 grams of methamphetamine, a Ziploc bag on the bed that contained small bags of marijuana, and a brown leather bag that contained 10 tablets of Oxycodone Hydrochloride, nine Ziploc bags that each contained approximately one gram of heroin/opiates, and a Ziploc bag that contained approximately 28 grams of cocaine. Officers also found a Springfield Armory sub-compact 9mm handgun and a loaded magazine, a Glock 9mm handgun and a loaded magazine, a Glock .40-caliber handgun and a loaded magazine, additional ammunition, and assorted drug paraphernalia.

Officers also searched Harris’s vehicle and found a Black Dawn Armory custom-made AR-15-style .223-caliber rifle loaded with a 30-round magazine in the trunk. Officers also found a plastic bag that contained 581 ecstasy tablets and additional ammunition in the vehicle.

According to court documents, Harris tried to bribe a hotel employee and the police officer who responded to the incident. At trial, Harris committed perjury in his testimony by denying knowledge of the methamphetamine in the hotel room and denying being aware of the presence of firearms.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Camden County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Camdenton, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group.