Five defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their involvement in a methamphetamine conspiracy
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Five defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their involvement in a methamphetamine conspiracy, according to Todd P. Graves, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. The indictment, Graves said, is the result of work completed by the NITRO Task Force.
Each of the defendants was charged in a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Sept. 17, 2003, in Kansas City. The indictment was unsealed and made public upon the defendants’ arrest and first appearance in court on Sept. 24, 2003, in Kansas City.
Gary Michael Swofford, 30, Laurie E. Baker, 20, Stacy Todd Davis, 33, Brianna Leigh Johnson, 24, and Patricia Jean Chipps, 36, addresses unknown, were charged with conspiring to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 18, 2003, in Grundy County.
Graves cautioned that the charges contained in the indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades. It was investigated by the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Trenton Police Department, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department and the NITRO Task Force. NITRO is the Northwest Missouri Interagency Team Response Operation, a joint law enforcement effort by the United States Attorney’s Office and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the 16-county region.