United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that Kenneth Johnston, Jr., 46, of Lamar, Nebraska, was sentenced on January 8, 2026, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, for Distribution of at Least 50 Grams of Actual Methamphetamine. United States District Judge Susan M. Bazis sentenced Johnston to 151 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Johnston’s release from prison, he will begin a five-year term of supervised release.
Johnston was arrested following an investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol and CODE Drug Task Force. In the course of that investigation, Johnston sold a half pound of methamphetamine to a cooperating individual at a gas station in Big Springs, Nebraska, on two separate occasions in July of 2023. Subsequent testing by the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab confirmed that the substance was in fact methamphetamine, with a purity of 100%. At the time of the sales, Johnston was out on bond on a state case for simple possession of methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and CODE Task Forces which is made up of law enforcement agencies throughout a 22-county area in west-central/southwest Nebraska and includes the North Platte Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Ogallala Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Nebraska — U.S. Department of Justice press release.