Date: May 8, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Springfield, MO – A Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in Greene County, Mo. James D. Elbert was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 10 years in federal prison without parole. On July 5, 2023, Elbert pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin. Elbert admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute at least 100 grams of heroin in Greene County from Oct. 2, 2015, to Nov. 13, 2017. Elbert admitted that, on three separate occasions, he sold a total of 6.86 grams of heroin to a law enforcement undercover informant in Springfield. Elbert is the ninth and final defendant to be sentenced in this case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall D. Eggert and Cameron A. Beaver. It was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Ozark, Mo., Police Department. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
