Feds indict 11 KC-area residents in $1.7M drug conspiracy and seize 77 firearms
Eleven Kansas City-area residents have been indicted in federal court for allegedly participating in a $1.7 million conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, according to prosecutors.
The people, most of whom live in the metro area, including Independence and Riverside, are accused of also participating in a money-laundering conspiracy from Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 12, 2019, according to the 22-count federal indictment.
During the investigation, law enforcement seized 77 firearms, most of which were recovered from the home of one defendant, 35-year-old Daniel Ruiz, in the 500 block of Hardesty Avenue on Kansas City’s northeast side, according to prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri.
One of the defendants, Matthew Fabulae, 30, of Kansas City, is accused of being involved in at least two shootings. During one in October 2017, Fabulae shot a man who tried to rob him at a SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western in Kansas City, according to charging documents. He got rid of the gun in a body of water, authorities said.
The second shooting came in December 2018, when officers responded to shots fired at a La Quinta Inn in North Kansas City. A witness said Fabulae pointed a gun at a man he was in a verbal altercation with, according to court documents.
Fabulae was arrested in February after officers pursued him from a gas station in the 7100 block of NE Parvin Road in Kansas City, prosecutors said. During the chase, Fabulae drove into opposing traffic, police said. He got out and ran, discarding a backpack that contained 48 grams of cocaine, 10 grams of marijuana and 280 grams of meth, according to charging documents.
Officers found him hiding in a dumpster, prosecutors said.
Throughout the investigation, officers seized handguns, an AR-15 style rifle, ammunition and a World War II-era gas grenade, according to prosecutors. Among the drugs seized, more than a kilogram was recovered from inside a trash can full of dog food, police said.
If convicted, the defendants would be required to forfeit any proceeds they made from the alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy, which includes a money judgment of nearly $1.75 million. Prosecutors claim the money was received for distributing more than 150 kilograms of meth and more than 10 kilograms of heroin.
