Leader of Mexico-to-Springfield Meth Ring Convicted

Federal prosecutors say a man who led a $1 million methamphetamine ring in southwest Missouri has been convicted.

Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Ryan Nevatt, of Springfield was convicted Friday of seven charges related to the meth operation, which brought the drug from Mexico to the Springfield area.

Federal prosecutors say Nevatt and his co-conspirators regularly traveled to Texas to pick up pounds of meth from a Mexican cartel source.

A press release indicates Nevatt was arrested after Springfield police stopped him with almost $67,000 in the saddlebag of his motorcycle and then later seized more than $97,000 cash from a hotel room rented in his name.

Nevatt was one of 15 people indicted in the conspiracy.