(Fremont County, WY) – Oscar Espinoza Duarte was sentenced to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for a total term of 180 months imprisonment (15 years) at his sentencing hearing held today, August 7, before the Honorable Judge Scott W Skavdahl in Casper.
He was sentenced for the following charges: two counts of distribution of methamphetamine (aiding and abetting), alien in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Duarte received 120-month sentences for each of the methamphetamine distribution (aiding and abetting) charges and the alien in possession of a firearm charge, to be served concurrently. Additionally, he received 60 months for the possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, consecutive to the other charges.
The other two charges he faced, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (aiding and abetting) and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, were dropped, as per stipulations made in a non-public plea agreement filed back in May when today’s sentencing was set.
In addition to the prison time, Duarte was ordered to serve a combined total of 5 years of supervised release and to pay $400 in special assessment fees. Court filings also informed that ‘The Defendant shall not illegally reenter the United States.”
Duarte, who the FBI shared is a Mexican national and “an illegal immigrant with probable ties to a known transnational drug trafficking organization” that was “recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization,” was charged and ultimately sentenced after a Rocky Mountain Safe Trails Task Force investigation determined he had been distributing methamphetamine in the Wind River Reservation and surrounding communities from his home in the Kinnear area.
The Task Force is “a joint mission between Wyoming local, state, and federal agencies to investigate, interdict, and disrupt Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) and other criminal enterprises on and around the Wind River Reservation,” according to the original complaint document on file.
Back in October 2024, DCI Agents soon met with a “known and reliable Confidential Informant (CI),” who reported that they had “met a local methamphetamine source of supply,” who turned out to be receiving “large quantities of methamphetamine” from Duarte.
During the ensuing investigation, agents learned that Duarte’s residence was located “off of Highway 26, near Kinnear.”
On February 6, 2025, agents were monitoring Duarte’s residence, when they observed him return home with another person. Soon after, agents observed another subject arrive at Duarte’s residence, later identified as Collie Warren, the complaint document informed.
Warren “did not appear to have anything in his hands” when entering Duarte’s residence, but he later left at approximately 1:20 PM “with a red-colored item/package in his hands.”
Agents “maintained surveillance on Warren and followed him as he drove south into
Ethete,” the complaint went on to inform, at which point he parked his vehicle at a convenience store parking lot and entered the store.
Agents then observed Warren leave the store and get into the passenger side of a different vehicle, which soon drove away.
Law enforcement stopped the vehicle when it was determined that its plates had expired, and then “identified Warren as the person who had left (Duarte’s) residence with the red-colored item/package.”
In the truck Warren had exited, Agents later found “a red Budweiser beer box,” which was “consistent with the red-colored item/package Warren possessed when he left (Duarte’s).” The box contained “a clear baggie containing a crystalline substance consistent with methamphetamine.”
Agents then field-tested a portion of the suspected methamphetamine, which yielded a “presumptive positive reaction for the presence of methamphetamine.”
A warrant was then subsequently issued for Duarte’s arrest, ultimately leading to today’s sentencing.
Collie Warren was also charged for his role in the investigation, and is set to be sentenced on August 22.
The other subject charged in relation to this investigation, German Ortiz-Esparza, was sentenced yesterday, August 6.
Click here to read all of County 10’s coverage of Duarte’s case.