Show-Me State Times

A federal jury in Kansas City, Missouri has convicted Montrez Dixon, 32, of St. Joseph on charges of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The verdict was reached on September 18, 2025, after a trial that began on September 15.

Dixon was found guilty of distributing more than 400 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl and participating in concealment money laundering. Three co-defendants in the case had previously pleaded guilty.

According to evidence presented at trial, law enforcement recovered a package shipped from Arizona to Kansas City on July 29, 2020. The package contained 4,715 fentanyl pills. Investigators determined that Dixon distributed this and other similar packages containing thousands of fentanyl pills throughout the Western District of Missouri.

On November 30, 2022, agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Internal Revenue Service executed a search warrant at Dixon’s residence in Los Angeles. They seized over 7,500 fentanyl pills and a firearm during the search. Afterward, Dixon fled to Fresno where he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Under federal law, Dixon faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison without parole and could receive up to life imprisonment without parole. Sentencing will be determined by the court after completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning their verdicts to U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen A. Brackett and John C. Constance are prosecuting the case with assistance from several agencies including the DEA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), local police departments from Kansas City and St. Joseph, Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, as well as forensic laboratories associated with these agencies.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations through coordinated efforts among multiple agencies led by prosecutors using intelligence-driven strategies.

Additional information about OCDETF can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.