An inmate serving time at the Lawton Correctional Facility in Oklahoma was sentenced to serve 26 years in a federal prison for leading a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene and Polk Counties.
Joshua A. Ramirez, 39, set up large drug deals while he was incarcerated.
Ramirez, who has no legal address, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on May 7, to 26 years in federal prison without parole.
Ramirez was sentenced under federal guidelines as a career criminal due to his prior felony convictions, according to a news release from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Ramirez pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in 2023, admitting he facilitated large methamphetamine transactions from within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections through contact with people outside the southwestern Oklahoma prison where he was serving time.
According to the release, Ramirez utilized drug couriers to transport methamphetamine and collect proceeds from several co-conspirators in southwest Missouri and elsewhere. Ramirez used a source of supply in Juarez, Mexico.
According to court documents, Ramirez is responsible for the distribution of more than 900 kilograms of methamphetamine.
During the time of this drug-trafficking conspiracy, Ramirez was serving a state felony sentence in Oklahoma for distributing a controlled substance and waiting to be released and transferred to federal custody to begin serving a 20-year prison sentence in a separate and unrelated case for distributing a controlled substance in the Northern District of Texas.
