Jury convicts St. Joseph, MO man of drug and money laundering conspiracy

Date: Sept. 22, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

KANSAS CITY, MO – A St. Joseph, Mo. man has been convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit drug trafficking and money laundering.

Montrez Dixon was found guilty on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, of one count of conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

Three co-defendants have already pleaded guilty in this case.

On July 29, 2020, law enforcement officers recovered a package shipped to Kansas City from Arizona, which contained 4,715 fentanyl pills. The investigation revealed that Dixon distributed this package and other packages to the Western District of Missouri, containing thousands of fentanyl pills. On Nov. 30, 2022, law enforcement officers with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service executed a search warrant on Dixon’s residence in Los Angeles, where over 7,500 fentanyl pills and a firearm were recovered. Dixon fled to Fresno, CA where he was ultimately arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Under federal statutes, Dixon is subject to a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated for approximately three hours before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark, ending a trial that began Monday, Sept. 15.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen A. Brackett and. John C. Constance. It was investigated by Internal Revenue Services, Kansas City, Missouri, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Police Department, Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, Buchanan County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office, St. Joseph, Missouri Police Department, Kansas City, Missouri Police Crime Laboratory, and DEA-North Central Laboratory.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.