Sentencing set for Joplin meth trafficker who shot girlfriend in the stomach with a stolen gun

Sentencing for a Joplin meth trafficker who shot his girlfriend in the stomach with a stolen gun is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. October 17 in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

Travis K. Brown, 53, pleaded guilty to meth trafficking January 24 under an agreement with the U. S. Attorney's office. A weapons charge and a charge of distributing drugs near a school were dismissed. Brown's crimes were detailed in a detention motion filed in August 2022. 

Brown is a convicted felon who was found in possession of a firearm on one occasion and approximately 221 grams of actual methamphetamine on a separate occasion. A five-year-old child was inside Brown’s residence when the methamphetamine was seized.

Brown’s first arrest occurred on August 2, 2020, when Joplin, Missouri, Police Department officers were called to Brown’s residence because a woman had been shot.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Brown’s girlfriend L.S. sitting at the kitchen table with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. The firearm used to shoot Brown’s girlfriend was sitting on the kitchen table.

Brown’s girlfriend told police that Brown had just finished cleaning his gun when he accidentally shot her.

The officer checked the handgun through computer systems and learned that it was reported stolen from Webb City, Missouri.

Brown was sitting on the front porch when officers arrived. Brown gave officers consent to recover the firearm from the residence. Brown made spontaneous utterances to the officers that the gun was sitting on the kitchen table, that the gun was silver and a Smith and Wesson, and that the shooting was accidental.

Brown was interviewed the next day. Brown told officers that he had retrieved his gun “to mess with it.” Brown said the gun discharged and struck his girlfriend who was sitting on the other side of the kitchen table from him.

Brown said he did not know how the gun discharged. Brown refused to say how he obtained the stolen firearm.

Brown has prior felony convictions for possession of methamphetamine, manufacturing methamphetamine, second degree arson, and receiving stolen property. Brown was on probation when officers arrested him on August 2, 2020.

While at the scene, officers called Brown’s probation officer. Brown’s probation officer told the officers that Brown is aware that he was prohibited from possession firearms due to him being a convicted felon.

Brown’s second arrest occurred on June 29, 2021, when Joplin, Missouri, Police Department officers executed a state search warrant at Brown’s residence. Inside the residence were three individuals: (1) Brown, (2) Brown’s girlfriend L.S., and (3) his girlfriend’s 5-year-old child.

Inside a safe, officers located bags of methamphetamine, a digital scale, Alprazolam and Hydrocodone pills, and two cell phones.

The Drug Enforcement Administration Crime Lab analyzed the bags of methamphetamine found in the safe and determined that one contained 195 grams of 100% pure methamphetamine and the other contained 27.11 grams of 99% pure methamphetamine.
In total, 221 grams of actual methamphetamine were recovered from the safe.

The next day, officers interviewed Brown after reading him his Miranda rights. Brown immediately said, “It’s mine.”

Brown stated that he had been selling for three or four months and had sold approximately one-half pound of methamphetamine during that time.