Kansas City, Missouri – A Kansas City man will spend 17 years in federal prison after being sentenced for methamphetamine distribution and a firearm offense tied to the drug conspiracy, federal prosecutors said.
Derone D. Gipson, 44, of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Beth Phillips to 180 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. The sentence came after Gipson was found responsible for distributing and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, as well as possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug distribution conspiracy.
The prison term is longer because Gipson was already under federal supervision when the new crimes occurred. At the time of the offenses, he was on supervised release from a previous federal drug conviction. Judge Phillips sentenced him to an additional 24 months in prison for violating that supervised release. That term must be served after the 180-month sentence, bringing the total punishment to 204 months in federal custody.
According to the Department of Justice, the investigation unfolded over several weeks in spring 2022. Between about April 27 and June 1 of that year, members of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department carried out three controlled purchases of methamphetamine from Gipson. The purchases involved 112 grams, 110 grams and 110 grams of methamphetamine, respectively.
The case moved from controlled buys to arrest on June 8, 2022, when law enforcement officers served a search warrant at the apartment where the earlier drug sales had taken place. Gipson was taken into custody there. Officers found $3,000 in cash in his left pants pocket and another $839 in his right pants pocket.
During the search, officers also located a Glock 26 9 mm handgun on a shelf under a coffee table in the living room. Gipson admitted that the firearm belonged to him, according to the case information.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean T. Foley and Joseph M. Marquez. The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department investigated the case, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the execution of the search warrant.
Federal officials said the case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative aimed at targeting cartels, transnational criminal organizations and violent crime.
