KC Reporter

A Kansas City, Mo., man who threatened his co-workers with a firearm while on bond was sentenced in federal court today for distributing methamphetamine and illegally possessing firearms.

Reggie McDowell, also known as “Dime,” 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 14 years and three months in federal prison without parole.

On Oct. 14, 2023, after McDowell was indicted and while he was on bond in this federal case, law enforcement officers responded to a disturbance with a firearm at a Raytown, Mo., restaurant where he was employed. McDowell was involved in an argument with a co-worker and brandished a firearm, which he retrieved from a bag he was wearing.

According to court documents, McDowell began pacing around the kitchen area and threatened to “kill everyone in here.” Restaurant employees contacted law enforcement and McDowell fled from the restaurant but left the bag behind. Officers located the bag, which contained a loaded FN 9mm handgun, a loaded Glock .40-caliber firearm, a loaded Glock 10mm handgun, ammunition, and drug paraphernalia. McDowell’s bond was revoked and he was returned to federal custody.

On March 3, 2024, McDowell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and one count of receiving a firearm while under felony indictment and while on release.

By pleading guilty, McDowell admitted that he participated in the drug-trafficking conspiracy from Jan. 1, 2016, to June 23, 2022. McDowell sold methamphetamine to an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on seven different occasions in 2021 and 2022. McDowell, who was visibly armed during four of those transactions, admitted to carrying a Glock .357-caliber handgun on at least one occasion.

McDowell and his co-conspirators used social media sites to arrange and facilitate the sale of illegal drugs. They held the pills out as purported ecstasy (MDMA), rather than methamphetamine.

On June 23, 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at McDowell’s residence. Agents seized multiple firearms including handguns loaded with numerous rounds of ammunition found throughout his living quarters along with significant quantities of marijuana and methamphetamine pills.

McDowell is the eighth defendant to be sentenced in this case. Two co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie C. Bradshaw. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Kansas City Police Department.

This prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative aimed at combating organized crime through multi-agency collaboration.