‘Career offender’ from Grand Island gets 19 years in prison on meth charge

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A repeat offender from Grand Island will spend nearly two decades behind bars for selling meth, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Austin Kober, 24, was sentenced Friday to 19 years in prison for the distribution of 50 grams or more of meth.

The sentence was enhanced because Judge John Gerrard considered Kober to be a “career offender,” the attorney’s office said.

On two separate occasions in March 2021, Kober sold meth to an informant in Grand Island, according to the attorney’s office.

One of those sales was taken to the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab, where an analysis determined it contained at least 106 grams of pure meth.

In May 2021, investigators saw people coming and going to Kober’s home before seeing him leave in a Chevy Impala, the attorney’s office said.

Kober was then stopped by police for a traffic violation.

Officers found nearly $700 in Kober’s pocket, and he told them that marijuana had previously been in the car, authorities said.

A police dog then smelled drugs coming from inside the vehicle, according to the attorney’s office.

Officers found $1,500 in the center console and a half-pound of meth in the back seat, which the crime lab confirmed was at least 240 grams of pure meth.

Investigators later searched Kober’s home, where they found a list of drug sales, marijuana, “a lot of baggies” and other drug-related items.

Kober admitted to investigators that he had sold meth, the attorney’s office said.

Two witnesses corroborated that, saying they had bought meth from Kober multiple times between 2020 and 2021.

Kober will serve a five-year term of supervised release after his release from prison.

There is no parole in the federal system.