Columbia man pleads guilty for role in drug operation

A Columbia man involved in a large drug conspiracy pleaded guilty in federal court Monday morning.

29-year-old William Alexander Hill faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for the three counts of possession of “crack” cocaine with intent to distribute, according to U.S. District Court spokesman Don Ledford. Hill pleaded guilty Monday morning for selling the drugs on three separate occasions in Columbia. Hill’s plea agreement said he sold more than 20 grams of “cocaine base” in November 2013, January and March 2014 at various places in Columbia.

Hill is one of 27 suspects involved in the federal case involving drugs and prostitution in mid-Missouri. In May, Kenneth Scott, Sr., the Fulton man who U.S. District Attorney Tammy Dickinson called one of the leaders of the operation, pleaded guilty for buying six kilograms of cocaine from a Mexican national and selling it to several people in Columbia.

Earlier this year, Hill also pleaded guilty in Boone County court for a shooting at the intersection of Oak Street and Garth Avenue on July 3 last year in Columbia. Hill received five years in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm and four years for unlawful use of a weapon.

A sentencing date for Hill has not been set in federal court.

(Editor’s note, 7/6, 5:48 p.m.: The story’s title has been changed from “drug ring” to “drug operation.”)