United States Attorney Jan W. Sharp announced that Ja'hvont Payne, 27, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute ten grams or more of an analogue of fentanyl. 

Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., sentenced Payne to 60 months’ imprisonment.  After his release from prison, he will begin a four-year term of supervised release.

On March 1, 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant on an apartment at 25th and Cumming Streets in Omaha after law enforcement was notified of a female who overdosed.

Payne was staying with the co-defendant, Robert Rush.  Law enforcement located 1,029 pills in nine different bags in the bedroom where they were staying.  The pills tested positive for fentanyl and were more than 110 grams of fentanyl. The female died from the overdose, and the autopsy confirmed it was the result of fentanyl. The United States alleges that Rush sold her the pill that caused her overdose. 

Robert Rush is currently scheduled for trial in March 2022. 

---

The United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Gabriel S. Goss, 40, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Lincoln for possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine, and a mixture or substance containing cocaine.

United States District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Goss to 180 months in prison followed by a 10-year term of supervised release. 

Goss faced a 15-year mandatory-minimum sentence in this case because he had a prior conviction for the sale of a controlled substance in violation of Minnesota state law.

On September 4, 2020, law enforcement searched a vehicle following a traffic stop in Lincoln. Goss was in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.  Officers found inside a bag at Goss’s feet about 1.8 grams of suspected methamphetamine, three baggies containing suspected marijuana, drug paraphernalia, $1,500, and numerous unused baggies.  Law enforcement also found two bags of suspected methamphetamine and one bag of suspected cocaine in the glove box of the vehicle. 

Those items were seized by law enforcement and sent to a lab for testing. The lab determined that a total of 113.28 grams of confirmed methamphetamine, of which at least 100 grams was actual methamphetamine, and 41.88 grams of cocaine were seized from the vehicle. 

This case was investigated by the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force.