St. Joseph man sentenced to 15 years for leading $2.1 million meth conspiracy
Distributed more than 100 kilos in Buchanan, Clinton, Nodaway Counties
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Joseph, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for leading a $2.1 million conspiracy that distributed more than 100 kilograms of methamphetamine in Buchanan, Clinton, and Nodaway counties in Missouri.
James Patrick Pardee II, 29, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Pardee to pay the government a money judgment of $2.1 million, which represents the amount of money received in exchange for the unlawful distribution of methamphetamine.
On Sept. 4, 2019, Pardee pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2015, to Nov. 16, 2017, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Law enforcement investigators identified Pardee as the head of the organization coordinating large shipments of methamphetamine from the Kansas City area to Buchanan County, Clinton County, and Nodaway County, where it was then redistributed by Pardee and others.
Pardee was arrested following a high-speed chase on Sept. 23, 2017. Plattsburg, Mo., police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop for a lane violation on a black Audi A4 driven by Pardee. Pardee fled from officers at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour for approximately nine miles, until his vehicle crashed into a guardrail. Pardee and a female passenger got out of the vehicle. Pardee was arrested and the female passenger escaped. Officers found a backpack inside the vehicle that contained numerous clear plastic baggies with a total of more than 2.1 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Investigators later determined that Pardee had recently sold approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine. Pardee admitted that he had sold more than three kilograms of methamphetamine every other day for the past three months.
Pardee is the second defendant to be sentenced in this case. Michael Robert Ramsel, 28, of St. Joseph, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 13 years and six months in federal prison without parole. Eleeseea Leeann Crail, 27, Johnathan Scott Graf, 31, and Adam Christopher Lowe, 40, all of St. Joseph, have pleaded guilty to the same charges and await sentencing.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division, the Plattsburg, Mo., Police Department; the Atchison County, Kan., Sheriff’s Department; the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and Sheriff’s Department; the Jackson County, Mo., Drug Task Force; the Clinton County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department; the Missouri State Highway Patrol; the Cass County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department; and the Clay County Drug Task Force.
