Broken Bow Man Sentenced to 10 years in Federal Prison for Drug Conspiracy

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that Reyes Ernesto Garcia-Urquizo, 38, of Broken Bow, Nebraska, was sentenced on September 11, 2025, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, for Conspiracy to Distribute 500 grams or more of Methamphetamine. United States District Judge Susan M. Bazis sentenced Garcia-Urquizo to 120 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Garcia-Urquizo’s release from prison, he will begin a 5-year term of supervised release. However, he is also subject to immigration proceedings and faces deportation, having previously been found to be illegally in the United States.

In late 2023, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and investigators with the CODE Drug Task Force discovered information about a subject picking up methamphetamine “in the middle of nowhere” and that the source of this methamphetamine was a Hispanic male in his late 30s or early 40s located in Broken Bow. In early 2024, CODE investigators would receive an anonymous tip that two Dawson County residents were distributing large amounts of methamphetamine that they received from a source located in Broken Bow.

CODE investigators began investigating the Dawson County subjects and observed that they were frequently leaving town in their vehicles and then returning and going to residences in Lexington that belonged to known drug users or areas of reported drug activity.

CODE then began conducting controlled buys. During one buy, the target advised he did not have methamphetamine with him and would be traveling to Broken Bow to get more. Investigators were able to conduct surveillance and ultimately identified Garcia-Urquizo as the likely source in Broken Bow. Through law enforcement investigation, the CODE investigators learned that an associate of Garcia-Urquizo would contact him and then meet up with Garcia-Urquizo at a rural intersection before returning to their respective places.

Investigators learned Garcia-Urquizo’s source and found he traveled to a specific location in Colorado to pick up his methamphetamine at a known drop location for methamphetamine brought directly from Mexico.             

These cases were investigated by the CODE Task Force which is made up of law enforcement agencies throughout a 22-county area in west-central/southwest Nebraska and includes federal partners with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, Nebraska State Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, North Platte Police Department, Lexington Police Department, and Army National Guard Counter Drug Unit.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.