15 indicted in Springfield meth distribution ring
Harrison Keegan , HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM
October 5, 2016
Fifteen people have now been indicted in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of meth in the Springfield area.
Four men were charged in March after authorities say they were busted with 12 pounds of meth and 6 pounds of heroin in a Springfield garage, but Tuesday's 37-count superseding indictment implicates 11 more people in the large-scale meth distribution ring.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, the 15 people indicted in the conspiracy are Patrick Roger Brigaudin, 54, Timothy Garth Hall, 55, Jennifer Louise Minor, 41, Amber Marie Vantuyl, 35, Gary Lee Driggers, 64, William Frank Eft, 66, Leah Renee Binney, 55, and William David Watts, 58, all of Springfield, Gayla Rochelle Phillips, 41, and Richard Todd Sherwood, 58, both of Willard, Mo., Adrian Ortiz-Corrales, 41, and Eduardo Diaz, 52, both of Las Vegas, and Carlos Alberto Luna, 42, Federico Herrera-Preciado, 51, and Maria Zetina-Ortega, 28, who have no known address.
A criminal complaint in the case says that on Feb. 29, authorities set up surveillance outside Brigaudin's house at 1720 E. McDaniel St.
A Dodge pickup truck pulled into the open garage at Brigaudin's house at about noon, and authorities quickly raided the property with a search warrant they had secured a few days earlier, according to the complaint.
Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Springfield Police Department, Homeland Security and the IRS entered the garage and found 12 pounds of meth and 6 and a half pounds of heroin in a secret compartment under the bed of the truck, according to the complaint.
Three other men who were allegedly at the scene that day with Brigaudin — Hall, Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz.
The February seizure came about a year after authorities say they stopped a man in Texas with 15 pounds of meth — nine of which were bound for Brigaudin, the complaint says.
The 15 defendants are accused of participating in a conspiracy to distribute meth in Greene County from October 2013 to February 2016.
Brigaudin, Ortiz-Corrales, Phillips, Luna, Herrera-Preciado and Zetina-Ortega are also accused of participating in a money-laundering conspiracy during that time, according to the release.
Court documents say that between January 2009 and April 2015, Brigaudin put more than $10 million into slot machines at Downstream Casino in Quapaw, Oklahoma and withdrew about $8.4 million from the slot machines.
The release says Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz are also charged together with one count of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute.
In addition to the drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies, Brigaudin is charged with four counts of distributing methamphetamine and one count of attempting to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Brigaudin, Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz are charged together in one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to the release.
The release says Brigaudin and Phillips are charged together in one count of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales and Luna are charged together in two counts of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales and Herrera-Preciado are charged together in two counts of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales, Herrera-Preciado and Zetina-Ortega are charged together in two counts of money laundering.
Vantuyl, Hall, Binney, Eft and Sherwood are each also charged with one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to the release.
The release says Minor is also charged with two counts of distributing methamphetamine, and Phillips is charged with one count of distributing methamphetamine.
Driggers is also charged with four counts of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Binney is charged with two counts of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Minor, Eft, Hall, Phillips, Watts and Sherwood are each charged with one count of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy, according to the release.
Watts is also charged with maintaining a premises that he made available for unlawfully storing, distributing, and using meth, the release says.
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