A Kansas City, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a large-scale conspiracy that distributed more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine in St. Joseph, Mo., and in a four-state region, according to federal prosecutors.
Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, stated that Anselmo Salazar, also known as “Crazy Eyes,” 49, of Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to 25 years in federal prison without parole.
On Dec. 2, 2015, Salazar was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2009, to Nov. 12, 2013. Salazar was also found guilty of participating in a money-laundering conspiracy that involved financial transactions of the proceeds of illegal drug-trafficking.
In 2010, the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated an investigation into a drug-trafficking organization distributing methamphetamine in northwest Missouri, northeast Kansas, southern Iowa and Nebraska.
Salazar is among 24 defendants charged in a Nov. 15, 2013, federal indictment. Salazar, along with co-defendants Carlos Alberto Yanez, 33, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., and Marvin Carl Rogers, 54, of Gladstone, Mo. were the primary sources of supply for methamphetamine for the entire organization. Yanez has been sentenced to four years and seven months in federal prison without parole. Rogers has been sentenced to 16 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.
Yanez and Salazar obtained methamphetamine in up to pound quantities and then delivered the methamphetamine to co-defendant Shannon Martinez (also known as “Big Homie”), 38, of St. Joseph, and another man charged in a separate case. Martinez, in turn, sold the methamphetamine to others to distribute. Martinez has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
On Oct. 11, 2011, Salazar was arrested after a traffic stop in Platte County, Mo. Salazar, who was driving Yanez’s vehicle, was in possession of 42 one-pound bundles of marijuana, 25 grams of cocaine and 80 grams of methamphetamine. Salazar was on his way to deliver the methamphetamine to St. Joseph for Yanez, and to pick up cash payment for the delivered methamphetamine.
Salazar was ordered to forfeit to the government a money judgment of $680,800, which was received in exchange for the unlawful distribution of methamphetamine, based on a conservative purchase price of $1,850 an ounce (for 50 percent pure methamphetamine) and the distribution of 23 pounds of methamphetamine by Salazar and others.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bruce Rhoades and Patrick C. Edwards. It was investigated by the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department and the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.