A Phoenix man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking operation in southwest Missouri.
Joseph A. Gilbert, 42, received a 20-year sentence from U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, with no possibility of parole. The court also ordered him to forfeit $616,756 in drug trafficking proceeds.
Gilbert pleaded guilty on Nov. 19, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted to supplying meth to a trafficking network operating in Barry, Stone, Polk, Lawrence, Greene, Jasper, and Newton Counties from November 2020 to April 2022. During this period, he distributed over 220 pounds of meth from Arizona to Missouri.
On April 23, 2022, Missouri State Highway Patrol attempted to pull over Gilbert on Interstate 44. He fled at speeds up to 100 mph, ran red lights, and swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid a tire deflation device. Authorities later arrested him in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, where he was found with meth and approximately 100 fentanyl-laced M-30 pills.
Gilbert is one of 18 defendants in the case who have pleaded guilty, and he is the seventh to be sentenced.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Eatmon is prosecuting the case, which involved multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol, DEA, ATF, FBI, and several local sheriff’s offices and police departments.
