Thursday, November 9, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Braymer, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute substantial quantities of methamphetamine.

Jason M. Potter, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Wednesday, Nov. 8, to 30 years in federal prison without parole.

Potter was found guilty at trial on Feb. 16, 2023, of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

Potter and co-defendant Daniel Dryden, 52, of Clinton, Mo., participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from May 11 to July 15, 2020. Dryden was sentenced on June 29, 2023, to three years in federal prison without parole.

Lee’s Summit, Mo., police officers saw Potter’s black 2009 Nissan Maxima parked in the parking lot of America’s Best Value Inn on July 15, 2020. When Potter and Dryden came out of the hotel, Potter placed a black computer case and a blue cloth shopping bag in the rear passenger seat of the Maxima. Potter went back into the hotel while Dryden drove the Maxima to the front of the business, near the lobby doors. Potter came out of the hotel and got into the front passenger seat of the Maxima. Dryden drove out of the parking lot onto Blue Parkway.

Officers stopped the Maxima and arrested Potter, who had an outstanding parole warrant. Potter was in possession of 4.8 grams of methamphetamine and $3,610 in cash at the time of his arrest.

Officers searched the Maxima and found the computer bag, which contained several baggies with a total of 648.6 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and a money bag with more than $3,000 in cash.

According to court documents, Potter stayed at America’s Best Value Inn in Lee’s Summit, Mo. He was a friend of the motel’s manager, stayed in different rooms in the motel, and used it as his “main hub” for methamphetamine distribution.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen A. Brackett and Stephanie C. Bradshaw. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department