Kansas woman granted probation on Missouri drug trafficking charges

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read
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Dec. 14—A Parsons, Kansas, woman was granted a suspended sentence and probation when she pleaded guilty this week in Jasper County Circuit Court to drug trafficking charges.

Morgan L. Wilkins, 28, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree trafficking in drugs and unlawful possession of a firearm in a plea agreement dismissing three other counts and allowing the suspended sentences.

Judge David Mouton assessed Wilkins underlying sentences of eight years on the drug offense and five years for the firearm conviction but suspended execution of the sentences and placed her on supervised probation for five years.

The charges pertain to an arrest July 22, 2020, when a Joplin police detective looking to serve warrants on Wilkins and a known male associate spotted her pulling into a hotel parking lot in the 3000 block of South Range Line Road.

During her arrest on the warrant, a handgun, $3,444, 84 grams of methamphetamine and various Schedule 4 controlled pills were discovered in her purse, according to a probable-cause affidavit. A prior conviction in Arkansas for felony possession of a controlled substance made it unlawful for her to possess a firearm in Missouri.

The grounds for the three counts dismissed by the plea agreement — forgery, trafficking in stolen identities and receiving stolen property — were not detailed in the affidavit.