KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A drug dealer who made nearly $1 million selling cocaine and marijuana will spend the next 25 years in federal prison.
A federal judge in Kansas City, Missouri, sentenced Howard Walters, also known as Chris Walters, this week after he pleaded guilty in August of 2020 to participating in a drug-trafficking conspiracy and a money-laundering conspiracy, according to a news release from the United States Attorney's Office.
Walters, of Lee's Summit, Missouri, must forfeit $976,862, which is the profit government attorneys said he made selling illegal drugs.
“This heavily-armed drug dealer was still on court-supervised release for a prior federal drug-trafficking conviction while he was engaged in this drug trafficking conspiracy,” Acting U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore. stated in the news release. “A long prison sentence will help protect our community from the violence that always accompanies guns and drugs, and send a clear signal to drug traffickers that their criminal activity won’t be tolerated.”
Walters' wife, Nina Walters, 39, was sentenced earlier this month to one year and a day in federal prison for helping in the money laundering of drug profits, according to the news release.
“Walters and his co-conspirators flooded the Kansas City area with more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine and profited from a multi-million dollar conspiracy in the process. This investigation, prosecution and sentencing demonstrates that the FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to removing drug traffickers from the streets and protecting our community,” Timothy Langan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Kansas City Division, stated in the news release.
Federal agents found numerous firearms, including rifles and handguns, during a 2018 search of Walters' house. The guns were found in a bathroom closet, the kitchen and the master bedroom.
Agents also found hundreds of rounds of ammunition, the news release states.
Walters admitted he bought vehicles with the drug money, including a Porsche Panamera and a Mercedes Benz GLS550 SUV.
A confidential source bought cocaine several times from Walters and told law officers he saw several grams of cocaine in kitchen cabinets at Walters' house, the news release states.
The source also told authorities Walters said his cocaine came from Jesus Campoy-Estrada, 26, of Kansas City, Kansas.
He told the informant he usually bought 10 to 20 kilograms of cocaine from Campoy-Estrada, according to the news release.
Campoy-Estrada pleaded guilty in the drug case. He has not been sentenced.
The drugs were brought to the Kansas City area on tractor trailer truck carrying five-gallon cans and antifreeze jugs.
An El Paso, Texas, man who admitted to his role in the drug conspiracy pleaded guilty and is serving five years in federal prison, according to the release.
A 40-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man, Jose Luis Armendariz-Rascon, pleaded guilty in the case as well.
He admitted his role in the drug conspiracy was to coordinate the transportation of money and drugs from their source to and from the Kansas City area.
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