A Springfield man will spend 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing methamphetamine and to dealing it from an apartment where two children lived.
The case against Devin J.H. Wrinkle, 32, began to build in January of 2020, when two confidential informants told law enforcement officers that he was a pound-level distributor of meth in the Springfield area, according to a press release from the Western District of Missouri’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Investigators made several undercover drug buys from Wrinkle after receiving the information. During the second undercover deal, Wrinkle sold meth while in an apartment where two children, ages 5 and 7, were living. According to the press release, Wrinkle was in possession of two pounds or more of meth during that deal.
The investigation led to a March 2020 search conducted at the home of Ashley N. Cooney, 39. There, officers seized over 425 grams of meth that belonged to Wrinkle and Cooney, according to the release. That included two plastic bags found in an upstairs toilet bowl, totaling about 329 grams of meth, as well as a Starbucks cup with 34.2 grams of meth in it. Wrinkle was arrested later that month following a police pursuit after he fled on a motorcycle, wrecked and attempted to run from officers. According to the release, he was in possession of a gun, ammo, meth and marijuana during the chase.
Wrinkle pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene County and to distributing methamphetamine on a premises where a minor resided. Cooney was sentenced last March in U.S. District Court to three years in prison in connection with the case.
