Kansas City man pleads guilty to meth trafficking, possessing illegal firearms

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) -Federal courts today found 48-year-old Melvin L. Carter guilty of illegally possessing multiple firearms and hundreds of grams of methamphetamines.

Carter, who is from Kansas City, Missouri, pled guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamines with the intent to distribute, one count of the possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and one count of possessing a firearm as a felon.

Carter’s previous felony convictions of robbery, possession of a controlled substance, sale of a controlled substance, trafficking and resisting arrest made it unlawful for him to own any firearm or ammunition.

Independence police officers arrested Carter after he crashed and was ejected from his ATV, which flipped when he made a turn on a street in Independence. The officers found 105 grams of meth in a plastic bag inside Carter’s jacket and also seized a pistol from him.

After Carter, who is from Kansas City Missouri, was federally indicted, officers arrested and seized another firearm – a handgun with an extended magazine – along with another 215 grams of meth from Carter’s possession.

Carter is subject to a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole or a maximum sentence of life without parole according to federal statutes.