KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Joseph, Missouri man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a $4 million drug-trafficking conspiracy that distributed more than 520 kilograms of methamphetamine over three years.
Christapher Dean Parton, also known as “Big Baby,” 32, was sentenced by United States District Judge Greg Kays to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
On April 16, 2021, Parton pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2017, to July 21, 2020, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
For approximately a year and a half, Parton was regularly provided one to two kilograms of methamphetamine each week by a drug trafficking organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. Parton, who transported the methamphetamine from Kansas City to the St. Joseph area for distribution, was found by the court to be involved in approximately 91 kilograms of methamphetamine. Additionally, Parton admitted he traded at least 50 guns, that he received through his drug distribution activities, for methamphetamine.
The entire drug trafficking organization received more than $4 million in exchange for the unlawful distribution of more than 520 kilograms of methamphetamine, based on an average street price of $8,000 per kilogram of methamphetamine.
Parton is among 25 defendants charged in this case, and the first defendant to be sentenced.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Bruce Rhoades and Robert Smith. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the FBI, and the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.
KC Metro Strike Force
This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.