KC Reporter

Edward Uribe, a 37-year-old resident of Oklahoma City, was sentenced in federal court to 25 years in prison for his involvement in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy in southwest Missouri. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, who also ordered Uribe to forfeit $210,000 obtained from drug trafficking activities.

Uribe pleaded guilty on November 25, 2024, to charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He admitted his role in distributing methamphetamine across several counties in southwest Missouri—Barry, Stone, Polk, Lawrence, Greene, Jasper, and Newton—from November 1, 2020, through April 28, 2022. Court documents indicate that between February and April 2022, Uribe acted as a main supplier for the drug trafficking organization and helped move over 460 pounds of methamphetamine from Oklahoma into the region.

While serving time in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for an earlier conviction related to methamphetamine trafficking, Uribe used a contraband cell phone and messaging app to coordinate drug transportation and delivery with co-conspirators. He also used these means to give instructions on preparing the drugs for sale and arranged for the purchase of a drone intended for smuggling drugs and other contraband into prison.

Uribe is one of twenty defendants who have pleaded guilty in this case; he is the eighteenth to be sentenced.

The investigation involved multiple agencies: Missouri State Highway Patrol; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; FBI; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Ozarks Drug Enforcement Team; sheriff’s offices from Barry County, Stone County, Greene County, Polk County (all Missouri), Ottawa County (Oklahoma); police departments from Bolivar, Cassville, Kimberling City and Springfield (all Missouri); Combined Ozark Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET); Oklahoma Highway Patrol; and U.S. Marshals Service.

The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Eatmon.

This case falls under an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation—a program designed to identify and dismantle major criminal organizations through coordinated efforts among multiple agencies led by prosecutors using intelligence-driven approaches. More details about OCDETF can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

"Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach," according to information provided about the OCDETF program.