United States Drug Enforcement Administration

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - -On May 16, 2017, Assistant Special Agent in (ASAC) Troy Derby of the Kansas City District Office announced that Joseph Nicko Winters, 45, of Independence, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough, District Court Judge in the United States District Court, Western District of Missouri, to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

On Dec. 15, 2016, Winters pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, one count of distributing methamphetamine, one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to ASAC Derby, Winters sold an ounce of methamphetamine for $1,400 in a controlled drug buy on Jan. 12, 2016. Law enforcement officers then executed a search warrant at his residence, where they noticed a Hercules 12-gauge shotgun propped up against the bedroom wall. Winters also had a loaded Taurus 9mm pistol in a safe. Officers found several containers with a total of 137.661 grams of pure methamphetamine, as well as drug paraphernalia and approximately $1,200 of the buy money that had been used by a cooperating individual to purchase methamphetamine earlier in the day.

Winters told investigators he had purchased more than a pound of methamphetamine from his supplier two weeks earlier. He admitted he had purchased a half-pound of methamphetamine every week or week and a half for the past three to four months.

ASAC Derby advised Winters is the first defendant to be sentenced in this case. Co-defendants Douglas Marion Pryor, 55, of Columbia, Mo., and Matthew Allen Hampton, 35, of Franklin, Mo., each pleaded guilty to their role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and await sentencing. Co-defendant Gregory Alan Kennedy, 53, of Boonville, Mo., pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and awaits sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Cooper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lafayette County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson County Drug Task Force and the East Central Drug Task Force.