Man Who Stole Guns From Casper Home Sentenced to 15 Years

A man who stole guns from a Casper residence in April will serve 15 years in prison after being sentenced in federal court on Tuesday on firearms and drug charges in two separate cases.

Corey Michael Cobb was sentenced to 10 years on one count of distribution and possession of methamphetamine and a consecutive five years for carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking offense, according to the minutes of the hearing before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl in Casper.

That case originated in Colorado and was transferred to the federal district of Wyoming.

In the second case that originated in Wyoming, Skavdahl sentenced Cobb to 10 years imprisonment for possession of stolen firearms to be served concurrently, or at the same time, as the methamphetamine distribution crime. The 10-year sentence is the maximum penalty for this crime.

Cobb pleaded guilty to these two crimes in the Colorado indictment on Sept. 18. As part of the plea deal, a separate count of methamphetamine possession and distribution was dismissed at the sentencing hearing, as were counts of possession of stolen firearms and possessing firearms and ammunition in interstate commerce.

On the same date, he pleaded guilty to possession of stolen firearms, and a count of being a felon in possession of a firearm was dismissed at the sentencing hearing.

As part of the judgment by Skavdahl, Cobb will serve five years of supervised probation after his release from prison during which he must receive cognitive-behavioral therapy and a mental health evaluation, must pay $200 in special assessments, and must pay $9,950 in restitution.

The case began on April 10 when a Casper Police Department detective gave a report about a burglary of a house in central Casper to an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, according to the agent's affidavit.

The police report said that the victim had been out of town since April 2, returned on April 4 and discovered 18 firearms. including a Maverick shotgun, were missing from a building on his property.

The report also said that Cobb was arrested at a hotel in Colorado Springs on April 9, and that he was in possession of the Maverick shotgun.

The next day, an ATF officer read Cobb his Miranda rights and Cobb agreed to be interviewed.

Cobb said that he organized a group of people to burglarize the Casper residence and steal the firearms. He knew his co-conspirators but declined to give their names to the ATF officer.

He also said he sold most of the firearms to people in Colorado Springs for about $10,000 and an unspecified amount of methamphetamine.

Cobb knew those who bought the firearms, but declined to tell the ATF officer their names.

The Wyoming federal grand jury indicted Cobb on May 19.

The Colorado federal grand jury indicted him in early July. That case was transferred to the Wyoming U.S. District in August.