Government recommends 16-year sentence for Joplin man on meth charge

In a sentencing memorandum filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the U. S. Attorney's office recommended a 16-year sentence for Benjamin Ray Nordby who pleaded guilty November 14 to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

 In the memorandum, the government argues that Nordby deserves a longer sentence because he had a weapon and because he continues to claim that the large amount of methamphetamine he had when he was arrested was for his own personal use.

The probable cause affidavit said DEA Springfield and the Ozarks Drug Task Force had Nordby under surveillance after he had recently moved from northeast Oklahoma to Joplin.

Nordby had been identified by the DEA in Tulsa as retail supplier and distributor of methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.

A mobile surveillance was set up after Nordby was seen leaving his home November 11, 2024. A Joplin Police Department officer stopped him after observing a traffic violation at 2000 W. 7th.

Officers found 224 grams of meth in the vehicle.

Nordby's sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 8 in U. S. District Court in Springfield.