Prison terms imposed in Natrona County drug distribution case

CASPER, Wyo. — A Wyoming resident and a Bar Nunn man were sentenced in Natrona County District Court in the past week after a drug conspiracy investigation that has resulted in federal convictions for other defendants.

Cody Raphael Urbanski, 27, was sentenced to six to 10 years in state prison on Tuesday by Judge Kerri Johnson. The sentence will run concurrent with an overlapping conspiracy case involving different co-conspirators that Urbanski has yet to be sentenced on.

Urbanski will get 216 days’ credit for time served since his last arrest in June.

Justin Keith Noland, 38, was sentenced last Wednesday by Judge Dan Forgey to six to eight years in prison. Both were originally charged with conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine and fentanyl. The fentanyl charges were dropped in exchange for the plea agreements.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigations agents began to identify members of the conspiracy in January 2024, according to charging documents.

Urbansnki was identified as a suspected sub-distributor for Sara Ward, who sources said was getting up to a half-pound of methamphetamine and 1,000 fentanyl pills at a time on trips to the Denver, Colorado, area.

While tracking Ward’s vehicle back from Colorado on March 10, 2024, agents saw Urbanski get out of the vehicle at a stop in Douglas, where Noland had been living.

Ward’s vehicle was pulled over in Natrona County, where she was arrested with passenger Kathleen Joy Lindsay.  In the vehicle, agents found about a third of a pound of methamphetamine in five black bags and about 560 fentanyl pills, most of which were in the false bottom of a Sunkist soda container, according to DCI’s affidavit.

Urbanski was arrested in April after fleeing a traffic stop and was found in possession of about six fentanyl pills, according to the DCI report.

The investigation into Urbanski’s phone records revealed transactions and text messages with Ward, Noland and others that were consistent with drug distribution.

Lindsay was sentenced to almost six years in federal prison last December. Ward was sentenced in January to five years on federal charges of possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl with intent to distribute.