Southwest Missouri Man Sentenced to 13 Years for Drug and Firearm Offenses

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SPRINGFIELD CITY, Mo. – A 61-year-old man from southwest Missouri, Billy Hile, was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison without parole for illegal possession of methamphetamine and a firearm. The sentencing was handed down by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool.

Hile, who has no known address, pleaded guilty on November 9, 2023, to charges of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. His sentencing was influenced by his status as a career offender due to previous felony convictions.

The case began on September 15, 2021, when a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Hile’s Chevrolet Silverado on U.S. Highway 60 in Lawrence County, Mo. During the traffic stop, Hile was found with 13 baggies of marijuana and admitted to purchasing it on the black market, despite holding a medical marijuana card. He also confessed to having smoked marijuana a few hours before the stop.

Field sobriety tests led to Hile’s arrest for driving while intoxicated. A search of Hile’s person revealed marijuana, $4,795 in cash (some of which was counterfeit), and a bag containing a pipe, methamphetamine, cocaine, and psilocybin mushrooms. In his vehicle, the trooper found a loaded stolen Glock 9mm pistol and 91.49 grams of methamphetamine in a tackle box along with drug paraphernalia.

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