SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield man was sentenced in federal court for leading a conspiracy to distribute heroin.

According to The United State Department of Justice’s press release, Dawuan White, 48, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

On April 2022, White pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin for about a year in 2017.

The press release states that White admitted that he sold heroin to a confidential law enforcement source on three occasions in December 2017 and January 2018.

On February 15, 2018, an officer contacted White near the intersection of Grant Avenue and Norton Road. White fled on foot and during the pursuit, the officer saw him throw two plastic bags away from him.

Once White was arrested, the two plastic bags contained 35.8 grams of heroin. The officer also searched a residence that investigators had determined to be a stash house for White, and found a plastic bag that contained 15.2 grams of heroin as well as drug paraphernalia.

White was on state parole for a drug-trafficking conviction during this federal investigation into his drug-trafficking conspiracy.

According to court documents, White provided heroin to his co-defendants to distribute.

White is the sixth and final defendant to be sentenced in this case.