SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Marshfield, Missouri, woman was sentenced in federal court today for her role in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine.
Jami L. Deam, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to nine years in federal prison without parole.
On Feb. 6, 2019, Deam pleaded guilty to participating in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that lasted from Dec. 2, 2014, to Jan. 23, 2018. During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers seized a total of 5.342 kilograms of methamphetamine from various co-conspirators.
Deam’s role in the conspiracy involved approximately 4.9 kilograms of pure methamphetamine as well as heroin. She transported drugs and delivered those drugs to the conspiracy’s leaders, co-defendants Christopher A. Jefferson, also known as “Big Al,” 46, of Springfield, and Donald R. Taylor, also known as “Dee,” 35, of Kansas City, Missouri. Deam admitted that she had traveled to Texas 10 times, to Arizona four times, to St. Louis, Missouri, numerous times, and to California one time to transport illegal drugs from those locations to Springfield for Jefferson and/or Taylor. Deam was not only a courier, according to court documents, but also sold drugs.
Jefferson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison without parole. Taylor pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
Jefferson frequently used women to transport illegal drugs, including large quantities of methamphetamine in vehicles and smaller quantities of cocaine and heroin hidden inside of their vaginas. They were paid to drive to Texas, Arizona, or California to pick up methamphetamine and other drugs and transport them back to Springfield. Several women admitted they made multiple trips to acquire illegal drugs, sometimes in multi-kilogram quantities.
Co-defendants Davetta F. Hicks, 32, and Shawn B. Robinson, 48, both of Springfield, were arrested on Dec. 9, 2014, by Kingsville, Texas, police officers. Officers found a half-pound of methamphetamine in Hicks’s purse. Deam had joined them for the trip, but was arrested the day before for shoplifting at a Walmart store in Texas. They had stopped at the Walmart store to pick up a $3,300 money wire from Jefferson before purchasing drugs in Texas.
Hicks pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Robinson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in federal prison without parole.
On one occasion, according to court documents, Deam and several conspirators traveled to California with a large amount of money to purchase methamphetamine. Once in California, they purchased 12 pounds of methamphetamine that was shipped to Springfield.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull II. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, and COMET (the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team).
