COURTESY MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Trevor Sparks led a large and violent meth ring, authorities say.
A Kansas City–area drug kingpin, whose organization once distributed a kilogram of meth throughout the state every day, was found guilty in federal court of leading a criminal enterprise that, among other things, allegedly kidnapped and murdered two people from St. Louis.
Trevor Scott Sparks, 33, is the 32nd person to plead guilty in connection to the statewide distribution ring. Federal prosecutors in Kansas City say that he was its leader.
The case against Sparks has its origins in St. Louis. In July 2018, FBI agents here began investigating a 30-year-old ex-con named Adam Mainieri.
The agents suspected Mainieri was selling about five pounds of meth every two weeks, according to a search warrant application first reported by the Kansas City Star.
Investigators traced Mainieri's supply back to the other side of the state and the ring Sparks ran.
The RFT previously reported that as part of the investigation, law enforcement sent a confidential informant to buy meth from Sparks' house in Kansas City.
Before authorities could intervene, two people from St. Louis — Brittanie Broyles and James Hampton — who had connections to the drug cartel were found murdered outside of Kansas city.
Although Sparks was not charged for the 2018 murders, the jury at his trial heard evidence connecting his drug ring to those killings.
According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, drugs and money had been stolen from the organization and Sparks believed that Hampton, a member of the drug ring who was residing in St. Louis, could help find the organization's missing assets.
According the statement, when the drug ring realized Hampton "could not or would not help" recover the drugs and cash, he was tied to a chair with electrical cord and beaten, then taken from St. Louis to Kansas City in the trunk of his own car.
Broyles, who witnessed Hampton being beaten, was also taken to Kansas City by members of the criminal organization.
Hampton’s car and body were set aflame on August 6, 2018, in Bates City, Missouri, 30 miles east of Kansas City. Two days later, Broyles’s body was found with two gunshots to the head near the Super Flea flea market in northeast Kansas City.
Authorities raided the house in December 2018, and found Sparks hiding in the home's attic. Guns, pill bottles, meth and marijuana were strewn about the residence. A bowl of loose ammo was found in the kitchen and more than $30,000 in cash had been separated into stacks and bound with rubber bands.
According to court filings, the ring distributed more the 1,000 pounds of meth over two years, bringing in millions of dollars. At its peak, the drug ring was responsible for meth distribution in the St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and St. Joseph areas.
The jury found Sparks guilty of a slew of charges, including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, participating in a money-laundering conspiracy, possessing firearms in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
He was also ordered to repay more than $4 million in drug trafficking proceeds.
He faces between 15 years and life in prison.
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