SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Missouri, woman was sentenced in federal court today for distributing methamphetamine and illegally possessing firearms.
Natalie K. Hampton, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
On June 24, 2019, Hampton pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Dec. 7, 2016, to June 19, 2018, and to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
When Hampton was arrested on several outstanding warrants in April 2019, she was wearing a wig and sitting on a handgun magazine. Officers searched the vehicle she was driving and found approximately 18 grams of methamphetamine, drug distribution materials, five cell phones, additional wigs, $50, and a safe containing two loaded semi-automatic pistols. Officers searched a hotel room associated with Hampton and found a handgun matching the magazine located in the vehicle, $3,706, and an ammunition box containing 84.7 grams of pure methamphetamine, cocaine, pills, mushrooms, suboxone strips, LSD, drug paraphernalia, and drug distribution materials.
On Dec. 7, 2016, Hampton was arrested in possession of a bag that contained 253.27 grams of methamphetamine, a distributive amount. She also possessed a stolen, loaded Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a Sig Sauer .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol. According to court documents, Hampton fled from the police prior to arrest, causing multiple collisions on Glenstone Avenue in Springfield. After crashing the vehicle she was driving, Hampton fled on foot before being apprehended.
On June 19, 2018, she was arrested in possession of seven bags that contained a total of 173.76 grams of methamphetamine, a distributive amount. On June 16, 2017, Hampton was arrested in possession of two bags that contained a total of 14.93 grams of methamphetamine, a distributive amount.
Hampton was on probation with the state of Missouri at the time she committed the instant federal offenses. She has continuously been on state probation for various misdemeanor and felony offenses for almost a decade; she has consistently received sentences of probation and community service hours in lieu of incarceration.
This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Keller. It was investigated by the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
