SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Billings, Missouri man who was a member of the prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood appeared in federal court Tuesday to be sentenced for drug trafficking.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri said Jimmy Pinkley pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2021, to one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Pinkley was arrested on Jan. 17, 2021 in Christian County. A sheriff’s deputy observed a Dodge Charger, which was later determined to be a stolen vehicle, driving down multiple roads in a trailer park and stopping briefly at several houses.

The deputy eventually conducted a traffic stop and apprehended Pinkley. The deputy searched the Charger and found a brown leather bag on the front passenger seat containing 177 grams of 97% pure methamphetamine in several individually-wrapped plastic baggies.

Pinkley told authorities the meth in the leather bag was what he had left from 1.5 pounds he’d bought from a supplier in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the previous day. Pinkley said he’d been selling methamphetamine for approximately six months at the time of his arrest, and told investigators he received a pound of the narcotic every time he went to Oklahoma City. He would obtain the drugs by calling an inmate at Oklahoma State Prison, who would then tell him where to go to make a purchase.

Pinkley also confessed that he was an active member of the Aryan Brotherhood and had been for more than 20 years. He joined the gang during his first prison stint.

Prosecutors informed the court that Pinkley was a felon with prior convictions for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as convictions for domestic abuse, witness intimidation, unlawful possession of a firearm, and aggravated assault and battery.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Pinkley to 18 years and four months in prison without the possibility of parole.