Poplar Bluff man sentenced to 12 years in prison after being caught selling methamphetamine

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday, May 2 sentenced a Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man to 10 years in prison for repeatedly selling methamphetamine and another two years for violating his supervised release from 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 Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Poplar Bluff Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter is prosecuting the case.