A Lexington man accused of moving fentanyl and cocaine around Central Kentucky has agreed to plead guilty in federal court after losing his bid to throw out evidence from a June arrest at a Hamburg-area hotel, where agents say they found a kilo of cocaine, nearly a pound of fentanyl and a loaded Glock handgun in his SUV.
Laurance D. Newby, the sole defendant in United States v. Newby, is scheduled to return to federal court in Lexington on Dec. 15 for a change-of-plea hearing before Magistrate Judge Matthew Stinnett, court records show.
Under a written plea agreement filed Dec. 5, Newby will plead guilty to two counts in a six-count superseding indictment: possessing 400 grams or more of a fentanyl mixture with intent to distribute, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. In exchange, prosecutors will ask the judge to dismiss three earlier distribution counts and a cocaine trafficking count at sentencing…