Operation Spring Cleaning Targets Southwest Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Over the past week, more than 100 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers worked together with prosecutors to arrest and charge 101 individuals in federal investigations for violent crimes.

Today, the Justice Department announced the results of “Operation Spring Cleaning”, a multi-agency law enforcement operation conducted March 17^th – 19^th that identified, apprehended, and initiated prosecution against some of the most violent offenders in the Springfield and Joplin metropolitan areas, including Greene, Jasper, and Christian Counties. Its mission was straightforward: use existing Missouri and Midwest-based law enforcement resources in a coordinated way to serve warrants across partner agencies, arrest individuals wanted for serious crimes and identify additional evidence that supports successful prosecution.

This effort resulted in 85 federal indictments charging 101 defendants with a variety of offenses including firearms, narcotics, and sex offenses. During the investigations into these matters, law enforcement seized a total of 141 firearms, 11.21 pounds of cocaine, 1.5 pounds of fentanyl, 204.89 pounds of marijuana, 88.14 pounds of methamphetamine, and 2.06 pounds of psilocyn.  Additionally, 10 arrests on state warrants were executed including an arrest for a suspect charged with murder in the first degree and a CODIS hit for an unsolved rape investigation.

“Operation Spring Cleaning is an example of the extraordinary impact that law enforcement, at all levels of government, can have when we combine our resources and focus collectively on aggressively combatting violent crime,” said U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Price.

U.S. Attorney Price thanked the partner agencies in this coordinated effort including:

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
• Carthage Police Department
• Christian County Sheriff’s Office
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
• Greene County Sheriff’s Office
• Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
• Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
• Jasper County Sheriff’s Office
• Joplin Police Department
• Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP)
• Newton County Sheriff’s Office
• Nixa Police Department
• Ozark Police Department
• Springfield Police Department
• United States Marshals Service (USMS)

Price continued, “Operation Spring Cleaning serves as a double-down on our ongoing collaboration in Southwest Missouri and a reminder that law enforcement officers, not violent criminals, control the streets of Springfield, Joplin, and all surrounding areas. We are playing offense now, and will remain on offense to confront crime and engage violent criminals at the time and place of our choosing.”

Operation Spring Cleaning was conducted by the Violent Crime Abatement Team (VCAT), a coalition of Missouri-based federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to respond to violence and gun crimes. The goal of this team is to bring significant, coordinated resources to address violent crime in the Southwest Missouri area, including federal prosecution.