Cozad Man Sentenced for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that Sean Westgate, 48, of Cozad, Nebraska, was sentenced on December 18, 2025, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. United Sates District Judge Susan M. Bazis sentenced Westgate to 235 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Westgate’s release from prison, he will begin a five-year term of supervised release. 

From the summer of 2023 into early 2024, Westgate and three other individuals from Cozad conspired to bring pounds of methamphetamine from Colorado to the Lexington-Cozad area, where the drugs were distributed. As part of the investigation, law enforcement executed search warrants for Facebook records, which revealed individuals and residences involved in the distribution of methamphetamine. During a January 2024 search warrant at a co-conspirator’s residence in Cozad, investigators found a loaded handgun, ammunition, methamphetamine, and distribution paraphernalia. Cell phones obtained during the search warrant contained messages showing drug distribution. Recorded jail calls tipped investigators to the group’s travel plans to obtain more methamphetamine in Colorado. A search warrant for a tracking device led investigators to making a traffic stop on February 6, 2024. Westgate was a passenger in the vehicle, which contained methamphetamine, THC, and drug paraphernalia. A later search of Westgate’s Cozad residence turned up evidence of drug use and distribution paraphernalia.

This case was investigated by the CODE Drug Task Force which is comprised of members from the Lexington Police Department, the Cozad Police Department, the North Platte Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol. Investigators from the West Metro Drug Task Force in Colorado also assisted in the investigation.