Source: United States Attorneys General
Headline: KC Man Pleads Guilty to Meth Trafficking, Faces 25 Years in Prison
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing nearly five kilograms of methamphetamine to distribute during a law enforcement operation in which another individual was fatally shot.
Michael J. Wilkins, 27, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
By pleading guilty today, Wilkins admitted that he was a leader of a major methamphetamine distribution operation. Wilkins, under surveillance by law enforcement, was seen entering a known methamphetamine stash house in the 3000 block of S. Bellefontaine Avenue in Kansas City, Mo., on June 8, 2016. When Wilkins left the house, he was carrying a box and a backpack, which he placed in his vehicle.
Law enforcement officers approached Wilkins while he was getting into his vehicle and attempted to detain him. Wilkins fled on foot and was subsequently taken into custody. In his path of flight, which was captured by the National Guard counterdrug helicopter surveillance, officers recovered one of his shoes, his cell phone and a handgun.
Officers executed a search warrant on Wilkins’s vehicle and found 4,764 grams of methamphetamine and $12,363 in the box and backpack he had carried from the stash house.
During the foot chase of Wilkins, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the Bellefontaine residence. That operation led to an hours-long standoff when persons inside the house fired shots at law enforcement officers. Luis Carlos Garcia-Aguilar, also known as “Moe,” fired several shots at officers then ran from the house with his rifle aimed at the officers; he was fatally shot.
Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Wilkins is subject to a sentence of 25 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Moeder. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Jackson County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.