Joplin man pleads guilty to meth conspiracy, money laundering charges

A Joplin man, who has also lived in Carthage and Webb City and is currently taking his meals at the Greene County Jail in Springfield, pleaded guilty to meth conspiracy, money laundering and money laundering conspiracy charges.

A pre-sentence investigation was ordered for Daniel Richard Vallejo, 37, who entered his plea during a hearing this morning in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

 Vallejo's crimes were committed between August 2016 and March 2017 in Jasper and Newton counties, according to the indictment and were described in a detention motion filed by the assistant U. S. Attorney:

To further support the Government's contention that the defendant is a risk to the safety of the community and risk to flee, the Government offers that the defendant was involved in receiving large amounts of methamphetamine from a source in California in 2017. 

The defendant sent more than $20,000 in U.S. currency to his source through a Joplin credit union and Wal-Mart money grams between early February 2017 and March 19, 2017. 

The defendant also has an extensive criminal history that involves drugs, stealing, firearms, resisting arrest, domestic assault, driving while intoxicated, and assault on a law enforcement officer.