Lexington Man Sentenced for Armed Fentanyl Trafficking

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A Lexington man, Laurance Newby, 38, was sentenced on Wednesday to 180 months by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove for possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

According to his plea agreement, between December 2024 until June 2025, law enforcement used a confidential informant to purchase fentanyl from Newby on three occasions. On June 25, 2025, a trained drug-detection dog gave a positive alert for Newby's car. Law enforcement approached the vehicle and Newby fled on foot, eventually being arrested. A search of Newby's vehicle resulted in the recovery of a backpack containing a loaded Glock 26 firearm and 996.4 grams of cocaine, as well as 439.8 grams of fentanyl in the trunk of the car. Newby admitted that he intended to distribute the drugs located in the vehicle and that he possessed the firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking.

Under federal law, Newby must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for five years.

Jason Parman, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Jim Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division, announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Walker is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF comprises agents and officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); US Secret Service; FBI; DEA; ATF; U.S. Marshals Service; IRS- Criminal Investigations; U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and the Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

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