Red Oak residents among 11 charged in federal indictment

 Three Red Oak residents were among 11 people caught in a federal drug sting alleging the distribution of nearly $500,000 of methamphetamine. 

Matthew Lee Gusman, 31, Mike Andrews Lawson Jr., 25, and Kayla Caroline Cornelison, 22, were charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury on April 15. 

According to United States Attorney Tammy Dickinson, the indictment was unsealed after all 11 defendants were arrested and appeared in the federal courthouse located in Kansas City. 

The indictment alleges the defendants participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2010, to April 15, 2015. 

According to a press release issued by the federal court, the indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the defendants to forfeit to the government $494,200, which allegedly was received in exchange for the unlawful distribution of methamphetamine. That figure was based on a “conservative” average street price of $1,400 per ounce and the total conspiracy distribu tion of at least 10 kilograms.

Others charged under the indictment include: Mike Kamal Ahmad, also known as “Viper Mike,” 39, Carey Michael Vannostran, 39, and Patrick Thomas Baker, 50, all of Kansas City, Mo.; Lori L. Justus, 51, Nicole Marie Bartram, 35, and Jono Dean Hamlin, 43, all of St. Joseph, Mo.; Scott Dewain Yount, 42, of Maryville, Mo.;  and Joseph Michael Tooley, 32, of Fordland, Mo.

All three Red Oak suspects have been arrested in the past. 

Gusman was first arrested on felony drug charges for intent to deliver methamphetamine in May 2010, and was sentenced to five years in prison two months later. 

However, he was soon released and was arrested again in March 2010 for assault, serving two days in the local jail. 

Gusman was arrested then in September 2013 in Nodaway County, Mo., for felony possession of methamphetamine and received a three year prison sentence, which was subsequently dismissed. 

He was arrested again on a felony charge of willful injury in January 2014 following an assault in Stanton in which a man was hospitalized with serious injuries. Gusman later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault charges and served 30 days in jail. 

Lawson most recently was arrested in September 2014 on three counts of threats to commit terrorism based on accusations he threatened to kill three Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies. 

Three weeks later, he would plead guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. 

In 2011, Lawson pleaded guilty in Montgomery County to felony burglary and a serious misdemeanor charge of trespass-intent to commit a hate crime. 

He received a five-year prison sentence on that charge, but it was suspended and he was placed on probation. His probation was revoked in 2012 when he was convicted of possession  of a controlled substance. 

Cornelison was arrested in July 2012 on two serious misdemeanor charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana. 

She pled guilty and was later sentenced to nine months of unsupervised probation. 

She was arrested again in July 2014 on two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance and placed on five years probation.