Meth Dealer on Parole Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday sentenced a Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man to 10 years in prison for repeatedly selling methamphetamine and another two years for violating his supervised release for an earlier heroin distribution case.

Joshua E. Forbes, 31, sold meth to a member of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and sent other members of his conspiracy to sell the drug on six occasions between June and August of 2023. A total of about 450 grams of meth and 14 grams of cocaine were sold by the conspirators for $3,810.

Forbes was on supervised release at the time of the drug sales, having been convicted of three counts of heroin distribution in 2021.

Forbes pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and three counts of distribution of methamphetamine.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case with the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Poplar Bluff Police Department.