Brad Jay Leeper, 47, of North Platte will serve seven years in federal prison for meth distribution, U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr announced Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon handed down Leeper’s sentence in U.S. District Court in Lincoln.

Leeper was convicted of distribution of five grams or more of actual methamphetamine, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm. There is no parole in the federal system. After Leeper’s release from prison, he will begin a five-year term of supervision.

Leeper was one of 29 suspected drug dealers who were arrested across Nebraska in a coordinated sweep on Jan. 23, following two years of investigations.

The investigations in North Platte opened in 2021, Lehr said. In June 2022, law officers conducted a controlled buy, set up over Facebook, involving Leeper. The buy was audio recorded and surveilled. Leeper was present as the passenger in the vehicle involved in the controlled buy. He personally handed the meth over, and was recorded advising the total weight was 28.38 grams. Subsequent testing by the state crime lab confirmed the substance was 100% pure meth and weighed 28 grams.

Leeper was federally indicted. On Jan. 23, officers went to Leeper’s trailer home to serve the arrest warrant and took him into custody near the front door. Wright said Leeper gave officers permission to enter his trailer to ensure no one else was present. When officers entered the trailer, they saw a 9mm handgun in plain view. When asked, Leeper consented to a complete search of his trailer, which turned up 53 rounds of ammunition, as well as a loaded syringe with suspected meth/fentanyl, a smoking bong, a mirror with meth residue, baggies with meth residue, and additional unused syringes, Wright said.

At the time of his arrest, Leeper had three prior felony convictions in Nebraska state courts. He was also serving a term of state probation.

This case was investigated by the CODE Task Force, which is made up of law enforcement agencies in a 22-county area in west-central/southwest Nebraska and includes the North Platte police, sheriff’s offices in Dawson County, Lincoln County, Red Willow County and Frontier County, the Nebraska State Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Lehr said.

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