Denton man sentenced for trafficking meth, cocaine and marijuana

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A Denton man was sentenced Thursday for his role in a local drug operation.

Steven Michael Luedtke, 47, will spend 15 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard also sentenced him to 10 years of post-prison supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

Luedtke was part of a conspiracy to get drugs from Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Alabama and sell them in the Lincoln area, authorities said.

He gave co-conspirators money to buy drugs, helped transport drugs and sold firearms to another member of the ring.

In March 2021, law enforcement caught Luedtke with about ¼ ounce of methamphetamine, ¼ ounce of marijuana and a digital scale.

He admitted to buying more than 70 ounces of meth for resale in the past year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Three months later, he was caught again, this time with 1¼ ounces of meth, 1½ ounces of marijuana, a digital scale and packaging materials.

Based on the charges Luedtke was convicted of, the group trafficked at least 500 grams of meth mixture, 5 kilograms of cocaine and 100 kilograms of marijuana.

This is not Luedtke’s first federal meth conviction in Nebraska.

In 2006, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But he was released in November 2013, according to federal prison records, after only about 7½ years.