Repeat Drug Offender Sentenced to 15 Years for Meth Conspiracy

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Lebanon, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court today for her role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Evelyn J. Dame, 50, was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison without parole.

On April 15, 2024, Dame pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Christian and Greene counties from Dec. 16, 2020, to June 2, 2022.

Law enforcement officers in Springfield, Mo., conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle in which Dame was a passenger on May 6, 2021. Dame admitted that before the vehicle stopped, she threw a duffel bag out of the car window that contained two one-pound bags of methamphetamine, a small black zipper case that contained five baggies of methamphetamine, and a bank bag that contained $4,220. Dame also admitted the cash was proceeds from her distribution of methamphetamine.

According to court documents, the driver and owner of the vehicle, Kevin Bruce Rogers, was later identified as the victim of an unsolved homicide.

Dame has a prior federal felony conviction for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, for which she was sentenced to three years in prison in July 2013. Following incarceration, her term of supervised release was revoked in October 2018 after she was arrested for possessing a controlled substance; she was sentenced to serve another five months in federal prison.

Dame is the third defendant in this case to be sentenced. Robert Jason Smith, 48, of Ozark, Mo., was sentenced on Sept. 30, 2024, to 25 years in federal prison without parole. Jill M. Matthews, 46, of Ozark, was sentenced on Nov. 14, 2024, to 18 months in federal prison without parole.

Co-defendant Terry M. Schenks, 54, of Ozark, has pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and awaits sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff's Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff's Department.

Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.