KANSAS CITY – A Columbia man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Douglas Marion Pryor, 55, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison without parole, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri.

Pryor pleaded guilty in late January to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methin Boone, Cooper, Lafayette and Jackson counties from Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016.

Pryor admitted that he had distributed approximately 40 to 50 pounds of meth since 2012. Pryor was arrested in Jan. 2016 during a traffic stop in Boonville. Officers found a green bag in the back seat of his vehicle, which contained a pill bottle with six plastic bag corners of meth.

Co-defendant Gregory Alan Kennedy, 53, of Boonville, traveled to Kansas City to pick up a large quantity of meth for Pryor in Aug. 2015. Kennedy transported it from Kansas City to Boonville and was arrested just outside the city limits during a traffic stop. Officers located approximately one pound of meth hidden in the dashboard of his vehicle. Kennedy told investigators Pryor had offered to pay him $700 to pick up the drugs and bring it to Boonville, where Pryor would pick it up.

Co-defendant Matthew Allen Hampton, 35, of Franklin, was delivering approximately two pounds of meth to Pryor when he was stopped by Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers on I-70 in Lafayette County in Oct. 2015. Hampton told investigators they had met in Pryor’s room at Harrah’s Casino in Kansas City, where Pryor handed him the meth and agreed to pay him $500 if he drove it back. Hampton admitted he had been dealing for Pryor for three or four months, and had moved approximately three to five pounds of meth in the last three months.

Pryor is the second defendant to be sentenced in this case. Co-defendant Joseph Nicko Winters, 45, of Independence, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole. Hampton and Kennedy have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Cooper County Sheriff’s Department, the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson County Drug Task Force and the East Central Drug Task Force.