Northwest Missouri Fentanyl Distributor Sentenced

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Newtown, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in conspiracies to distribute fentanyl in northwest Missouri and to wire the proceeds of drug trafficking to Mexico.

Lucas Ryan Coltrain, 24, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to nine years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Coltrain to forfeit to the government $10,000, which represents the proceeds he received from drug trafficking.

On Feb. 6, 2024, Coltrain pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl from Oct. 27, 2020, to Jan. 24, 2023, and to participating in a conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to court documents, Coltrain distributed at least 5,662 fentanyl pills, pressed into pills that appear to be prescription pharmaceuticals by members of a Mexican cartel. Coltain's Facebook message records show that he was receiving fake M-30 pills "by the 1000s" and selling them for $40 a pill.

Coltrain admitted knowing that people were dying after taking the fake pills, which he sold to friends. His sales continued even after the death of an acquaintance on July 17, 2021. Coltrain was hospitalized for a fentanyl overdose in August 2023, after he was released on bond in this case.

Coltrain admitted that he wired approximately $10,000 to $15,000 to Mexico. Those wire transfers represented the proceeds from the distribution of fentanyl.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Grundy County, Mo., Sheriff's Department, the Trenton, Mo., Police Department, the Northwest Missouri Drug Task Force, the FBI, the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Mercer County, Mo., Sheriff's Department, the Grundy County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and IRS-Criminal Investigation.