Department of Justice

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing methamphetamine to distribute and illegally possessing a firearm after leading police officers on a high-speed chase.

Joshua L. Alley, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to twenty-one years in federal prison without parole.

On Nov. 30, 2023, Alley pleaded guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and one count of being a felon and an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Independence, Mo., police officers located a stolen 2013 Hyundai Accent parked at a local convenience store on May 18, 2023. They maintained surveillance of the vehicle until Alley came out of the store and got into the driver’s seat.

Despite the deployment of pursuit termination devices, Alley led police officers on a high-speed chase. Alley drove through a line of trees and drove the vehicle down the embankment of a small creek, disabling the vehicle. Alley climbed out of the driver’s side window of the vehicle, which was still running and in drive. The vehicle was lying vertically in the creek bed. Alley fled on foot through the woods, discarding a bag of methamphetamine as he ran, but was taken into custody.

Officers recovered the bag that had been discarded by Alley, which contained 84.8 grams of methamphetamine. An officer returned to the car, where he found a loaded Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a Ruger magazine that contained five rounds of hollow point ammunition.

Alley admitted that he used methamphetamine a couple of times a day, and that he had been using methamphetamine for the past six months.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Alley has four prior felony convictions for armed criminal action, three prior felony convictions for burglary, and prior felony convictions for robbery, stealing, receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance, assault, domestic assault,

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.