Springfield man sentenced to 30 years for fentanyl conspiracy
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo. man was sentenced in federal court today for his leadership role in a large-scale drug-trafficking organization in southwest Missouri that resulted in the overdose deaths of at least two people.
Delante Leon Worsham, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to 30 years in federal prison without parole.
On Jan. 29, 2024, Worsham pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Worsham admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in Christian and Greene counties from Sept. 23, 2018 to Nov. 14, 2019.
During a Sept. 23, 2018, traffic stop in Springfield, Mo., law enforcement officers located 21.50 grams of fentanyl in Worsham’s vehicle. On Nov. 15, 2019, Worsham was arrested in Springfield with approximately $2,390 in cash and a golf-ball sized bag containing smaller bags of fentanyl totaling 30 grams. Worsham admitted that he intended to distribute the fentanyl from both incidents and that the money was proceeds from a drug-trafficking conspiracy. Worsham further admitted to “cutting” fentanyl with heroin and powdered sugar in order to maximize his profit.
According to court documents, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that Missouri was one of only nine states west of the Mississippi River with an age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths of more than 21.1 per 100,000 in 2020. Court documents also cite a widely reported analysis of CDC data by Families Against Fentanyl that fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause of death among adults between ages 18 and 45 in the United States.
Worsham is the eleventh defendant to be sentenced in this case, among 14 defendants who have pleaded guilty.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica R. Eatmon and Cameron A. Beaver. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Bourbon, Mo., Police Department, and the Phelps County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.
Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.