KCMO: Rockstar Burgers owners pleads guilty to making restaurant available to drug-trafficking

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The owner of Rockstar Burgers pled guilty in federal court to allowing his former restaurant building to be used for a drug trafficking conspiracy that is alleged to have distributed more than 150 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than 10 kilograms of heroin, amassing a total value of $1.7 million in drugs.

The guilty plea for 45-year-old Brian Douglas Smith came Wednesday. Smith, by pleading guilty, admitted to making the building in the West Bottoms that served as the home for Rock Star Burgers, his part-time residence, a loft and associated spaces, available to a drug-trafficking organization. According to court documents, Smith knew of the organization’s drug-trafficking operation which used the building for storing and distributing methamphetamine, collecting sales and possessing, storing and using firearms.

According to the plea agreement, Smith’s role was limited to maintaining the building premises for the drug-trafficking organization’s use. He’s among 17 defendants in the case who have pleaded guilty or have guilty pleas scheduled.

Matthew John Fabulae, 33, of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole on March 14, 2022. He pled guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies as well as one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, one count of being a drug user in possession of a firearm and one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

On Feb. 25, 2022, 51-year-old Amy Leann Nieman of Mooresville, Missouri, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison without parole for her role in the drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies and to possessing firearms during a drug-trafficking crime.