A Kansas City lawyer has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiring to launder drug money of an undercover agent posing as a marijuana dealer.

Meanwhile the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an order disbarring Ronald E. Partee, 66, Kansas City, Mo.

Partee pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering.

 

In his plea, Partee admitted he conspired with co-defendants Mendy Read-Forbes, 38, and Laura Shoop, 46, both of Platte City, Mo.

The investigation began in March 2012 when a KBI agent working undercover met Read-Forbes. Read-Forbes was holding herself out as the owner of Forbes & Newhard Credit Solutions, Inc., a nonprofit organization established to provide credit counseling to people who were in bankruptcy proceedings.

An undercover KBI agent posed as a marijuana dealer, and worked out a scheme to launder the dealer’s drug proceeds. As part of the scheme, Forbes offered to deposit money given to her by the agentinto the bank accounts of Forbes and Newhard Credit Solutions or related companies and then to return the money to the dealer via checks, money orders or wire transfers. The bank accounts were in Kansas.

Partee was at various times a member of the board of directors for Forbes and Newhard and a signator on FCP’s bank accounts. On April 20, 2012, Partee approved two wire transfers from the FCP account that he believed were drug funds. He sent $5,000 to a bank account of Maximus Lawn Care and $5,000 to the bank account of the undercover agent.

Defendants Read-Forbes and Shoop are awaiting trial. In a separate case, Mendy Read-Forbes and Brian Forbes have been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of money laundering.