Joplin man sentenced on meth, weapons charges

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)

A Joplin, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing methamphetamine to distribute and for illegally possessing firearms.

Nathan Scott Thomas, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 11 years in federal prison without parole.

On May 3, 2021, Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

On Jan. 29, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Thomas’s residence. Officers found a safe in the master bedroom that contained a loaded Ruger .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol, a loaded Jimenez 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and approximately 197 grams of methamphetamine.

According to court documents, Thomas is an active member of the Universal Arian Brotherhood with a lengthy criminal history. In addition to these federal offenses, Thomas has no less than 19 pending cases arising from incidents that occurred between August 2019 and his March 2021 arrest. In September 2020, a warrant was issued in connection with this case. In December 2020, Thomas fled from law enforcement officers while in possession of methamphetamine and a 9mm handgun. In March 2021, Thomas again fled from law enforcement before being apprehended and federally detained. Thomas has been in federal custody since his arrest on March 4, 2021.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Sarff. It was investigated by the FBI, the Ozarks Drug Enforcement Team and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.