Joplin man pleads guilty to federal meth possession, distribution charge

Benjamin Ray Nordby, Joplin, pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of methamphetamine during a hearing this morning in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

Judge Douglas Harpool ordered a pre-sentencing investigation. No date has been set for sentencing.

DEA Springfield and the Ozarks Drug Task Force had Benjamin Ray Nordby under surveillance after he 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 probable cause affidavit.

Nordby was also a member of a prison gang, the Universal Aryan Brotherhood, the affidavit indicated.
A mobile surveillance was set up after Nordby was seen leaving his home Monday night. 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.