Three Nixa, Missouri Residents Plead Guilty To Drug Trafficking Resulting In Murder
ST. LOUIS - - James Shroba, Special Agent-in-(SAC) of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) St. Louis Division Office, announced today that that three Nixa, Mo., residents have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, which resulted in the murder of Mexican national, Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola. In announcing the guilty pleas SAC Shroba said, “With our state and local partners, DEA is committed to stemming the senseless violence that too often accompanies drug trafficking. With these convictions, our hope is that our community is a little safer.”
SAC Shroba said that Brooke Danielle Beckley, 20, and Jourdan Ashley McGinnis, 28, both of Nixa, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush. Co-defendant Nathaniel Austin Lee, 19, of Nixa, pleaded guilty on Monday, June 19, 2017, to his role in the conspiracy.
By pleading guilty, Beckley, McGinnis and Lee admitted they participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene County, Dallas County, Webster County and Christian County, Mo., from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016.
McGinnis admitted that, on April 8, 2016, he and Beckley possessed at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in a hotel room, which they intended to distribute to another person.
In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, SAC Shroba said that Beckley and Lee each pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in murder. They admitted that the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. Conspirators carried a Stoeger .40-caliber pistol and discharged a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a Taurus 9mm handgun and an unknown make and model .380-caliber handgun in the act of aiding and abetting each other and others to commit the murder.
SAC Shroba advised that under federal statutes, Beckley, Lee and McGinnis are each subject to sentences of life in federal prison without parole for these crimes. Sentencing dates have yet to be set by the courts.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and (ATF), the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrence County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Webster County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Seymour, Mo., Police Department, the Rogersville, Mo., Police Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement (COMET).
