WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Wichita man who was convicted for his part in a drug trafficking ring in Wichita stood before a judge and heard his sentence on Tuesday.
Forty-five-year-old Travis Vontress was sentenced by a federal judge to 295 months in prison, which equals 24 years and seven months, for his part in a Wichita drug ring that was run by a man in an Oklahoma prison.
KSN News first reported about the drug ring two years ago in 2020.
Vontress was the treasurer of the drug operation that distributed methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, crack cocaine, and marijuana in Wichita.
In March 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Travis Knighten, 49, who was serving a 90-year sentence for a 1993 murder, was using cell phones to facilitate the distribution in Wichita.
Another inmate, Armando Luna, helped Knighten put together drug deals in the Wichita area. Lower-ranking conspirators were responsible for maintaining stash houses, cutting, packaging and storing drugs, reselling the final products and other duties.
Vontress was convicted by a jury in March 2022 of the following crimes:
- Conspiracy to distribute meth
- Conspiracy to distribute heroin
- Conspiracy to distribute cocaine powder
- Maintaining drug-involved premises
- Unlawful use of a telephone in furtherance of drug trafficking
- Possession with intent to distribute powder cocaine
- Possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas, said another 21 defendants all previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the case.
The FBI, Wichita Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Postal Service, Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Marshall Service, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the Nebraska State Patrol investigated the case.