United States Drug Enforcement Administration

INDIANAPOLIS – Michael J. Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis, and U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana announced that Demario Barker, 33, of Kokomo, Indiana, was sentenced last week to 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of distribution of methamphetamine.   

According to court documents, law enforcement officers began investigating Barker’s drug trafficking activities in 2019. On June 22, 2020, and July 31, 2020, Barker distributed methamphetamine from his residence in Kokomo. On Nov. 30, 2020, DEA agents and Kokomo Police Department officers executed a search warrant at Barker’s Kokomo residence, and a second Kokomo residence that Barker used in furtherance of his drug trafficking activities. During the execution of those search warrants, law enforcement officers seized approximately one pound of methamphetamine, as well as seven firearms.

The DEA and Kokomo Police Department investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker. As part of the sentence, Judge Barker ordered that Barker be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for five years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Brady, who prosecuted this case.

This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.