SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (USAO-WDM) – Over the past week, more than 100 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers worked together with prosecutors to arrest and charge 101 individuals in federal investigations for violent crimes.
The Justice Department announced the results of “Operation Spring Cleaning,” a multi-agency law enforcement operation conducted March 17 th – 19 th that identified, apprehended, and initiated prosecution against some of the most violent offenders in the Springfield and Joplin metropolitan areas, including Greene, Jasper, and Christian Counties. Its mission was straightforward: use existing Missouri and Midwest-based law enforcement resources in a coordinated way to serve warrants across partner agencies, arrest individuals wanted for serious crimes and identify additional evidence that supports successful prosecution.
This effort resulted in 85 federal indictments charging 101 defendants with a variety of offenses including firearms, narcotics, and sex offenses. During the investigations into these matters, law enforcement seized a total of 141 firearms, 11.21 pounds of cocaine, 1.5 pounds of fentanyl, 204.89 pounds of marijuana, 88.14 pounds of methamphetamine, and 2.06 pounds of psilocyn. Additionally, 10 arrests on state warrants were executed including an arrest for a suspect charged with murder in the first degree and a CODIS hit for an unsolved rape investigation…