A Springfield, Missouri, man has been sentenced in federal court for methamphetamine trafficking and illegally possessing firearms.
Tyler J. Brown, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Wednesday, June 3, to 12 years in federal prison without parole.
On Sept. 11, 2019, Brown pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
Brown was arrested on Dec. 25, 2017, when Springfield police officers found him passed out in the driver’s seat of a Pontiac Grand Am. The vehicle was parked, with the engine running, at the intersection of North Grant Avenue and West Calhoun Street. Officers found two firearms in the car with Brown.
A loaded Pioneer Arms 7.62mm semi-automatic pistol was sitting muzzle-end down, in the passenger floorboard, with the handle of the firearm leaning toward the driver’s seat. Brown’s right hand rested next to the firearm, with his last two fingers touching the end of the firearm. While removing the first firearm, an officer saw a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol resting near Brown’s right side.
Officers were able to wake Brown up and place him under arrest. Brown was in possession of $2,666 and had a plastic baggie in his pocket that contained 1.45 grams of methamphetamine. He was wearing body armor beneath his shirt. Officers searched the car and found a black backpack in the front passenger seat. Inside the backpack was a glass jar that contained 71.44 grams of methamphetamine, a distributive amount, and a black and silver box that contained 3.46 grams of methamphetamine.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nhan D. Nguyen and Josephine L. Stockard. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.
