Conway man handed lengthy prison term in meth trafficking case

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Jun. 17—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A Lawrence County judge sentenced a Conway man to 25 years in prison this week on convictions for trafficking in methamphetamine and resisting arrest.

Judge David Cole assessed Carl W. Dill II concurrent terms of 25 years for first-degree trafficking in drugs and seven years on a felony count of resisting arrest at a sentencing hearing Monday in Lawrence County Circuit Court. Dill, 26, was found guilty of the charges in a jury trial in April.

The convictions stem from an incident June 18, 2019, on Missouri Highway 96 in Lawrence County when a vehicle passed a Jasper County Sheriff's Department transport officer and forced an oncoming vehicle off the road.

During the transport officer's ensuing pursuit of the offending driver, the fleeing vehicle crashed, an altercation with its occupants broke out as they crawled out of the wreckage, and more than 3 ounces of meth were seized during their arrests.

Two co-defendants in the case pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and were assessed suspended sentences.

The driver of the vehicle, Douglas S. Ward Jr., 32, of Jefferson City, pleaded guilty in May 2020 and was sentenced to 15 years with execution of the sentence suspended. Tara L. Ivey, 30, of Conway, pleaded guilty May 11 in a deal calling for a 10-year suspended term.

Prosecutor Don Trotter said they received plea deals after taking responsibility for their acts and accepting treatment for their drug use. He said Ward went through treatment before receiving the plea and subsequently entered the local drug court program.

But Dill has been a more inveterate drug dealer with convictions and time served in prison before the 2019 arrest and other drug-dealing charges currently pending against him in Laclede County, Trotter said.

A probable-cause affidavit filed in the Lawrence County case states that the transport officer was pursuing the vehicle to get its license plate number when the driver crashed attempting a turn onto County Road 1085.

The three occupants would not comply with the officer's attempts to keep them at the scene. Ward purportedly pulled a bag of meth from his pants and threw it on the ground before he and Dill both started running.

All three were eventually detained with the assistance of Missouri State Highway Patrol officers.