Baxter man sentenced to 11 years in prison for meth conspiracy

A Baxter Springs, Kansas, man, whose previous sentence was commuted by then-President Barack Obama, was sentenced in federal court today for committing another drug-trafficking violation soon after his release from prison. Read the full press release below:

Carroll J. Flowers, 69, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 11 years and three months in federal prison without parole.

In an earlier unrelated case, Flowers was sentenced on June 19, 2002, to 20 years in federal prison following his conviction in the District of Kansas for conspiring to distribute 3.2 kilograms of pure methamphetamine. President Obama commuted Flowers’ sentence and he was released on May 19, 2017, to a term of supervised release. Approximately six months later, while still on supervised release, Flowers committed this offense.

Flowers pleaded guilty on May 28, 2019, to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13, 2017. When Flowers was arrested, he was carrying 83.1 grams of pure methamphetamine and $2,731.

Flowers was arrested with co-defendant Melissa A. Lowry, 44, of Joplin, Missouri. Lowry pleaded guilty to the same charge on Sept. 30, 2019, and awaits sentencing. She admitted to selling methamphetamine to a confidential law enforcement informant. When officers searched her residence at the time of her arrest with Flowers, they found a black-zipped pouch inside a compartment of a bedroom dresser that contained approximately 14 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, and unused baggies.