North Platte Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine

United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Austin Priest, age 35, of North Platte, Nebraska, was sentenced on September 17, 2024, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska for one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Priest to a total of 120 months’ imprisonment. Priest’s federal sentence will be served consecutive to a state prison sentence he is serving for state violations related to possession of meth. There is no parole in the federal system. After Priest’s release from prison, he will begin a 5-year term of supervised release.

On October 15, 2023, officers with the North Platte Police Department stopped a vehicle driven by Priest as it entered North Platte for at traffic violation. From prior intel, officers suspected the vehicle had been involved in the distribution of narcotics and suspected narcotics were currently in the vehicle at the time of the stop.

Both Priest and his passenger were asked to step back to patrol cars while officers checked their identification, and a drug dog was deployed while the traffic stop was in progress. The dog alerted to the presence of narcotics and officers conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle. In a XL men’s sized jacket pocket, officers located a pound of meth. The jacket was located on the floor of the passenger’s side seat. A search warrant executed on the co-defendant’s phone located a selfie style photo taken of Priest and the co-defendant that same day of the two of them, with Priest wearing the jacket.

During interviews, Priest initially denied being outside of Nebraska, saying they had just been to Ogallala. A search incident to his arrest located receipts from Colorado in his pockets, at which point he admitted having been in Colorado but denied knowing anything about the meth in the car. At the time of the traffic stop, Priest was out on bond, having been released by a state court judge on three separate state cases relating to either the possession of or the distribution of meth.  

The recovered meth was sent to the state crime lab where it was tested and confirmed meth, with a purity of 95.7% for a total of 400 grams of actual meth.

This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department.