Casper Woman Sentenced to Probation for Involvement in Meth Ring
A woman who police found with half an ounce of methamphetamine in three different bags will avoid prison time if she complies with the terms of her probation handed down Tuesday morning in Natrona County District Court.
Robin LaRae Larson, 36, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation with an underlying suspended prison term of three to five years.
Larson will begin her term of probation when she has completed serving her sentence for DUI in a separate case. She will also have to complete a drug treatment program and a criminal thinking class.
Larson pleaded guilty Dec. 20 to one count of conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine. The state dismissed a second count of felony methamphetamine possession.
"There's a good number of people in this community who have had enough with methamphetamine," Judge Thomas Sullins told Larson before reading her sentence Tuesday.
He continued, saying a significant portion of the local population feel anyone involved with the distribution of methamphetamine, "ought to go directly to prison and rot there."
"Methamphetamine is a curse on this community," Sullins concluded.
Police stopped Larson on the evening of Aug. 10 as authorities searched for 37-year-old Doyle Gabbert.
Gabbert -- who was arrested in August following a police chase through Casper -- faces charges of conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine, aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of theft, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a deadly weapon with intent to threaten the life of another person.
The meth conspiracy charge was investigated by agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation beginning in the fall of 2015.
But the remaining charges all stem from a pair of alleged shootings during the week of Aug. 8 in which Gabbert is accused of firing a handgun at several people.
Court documents say Gabbert had been involved in several incidents where he was suspected of assault, being under the influence of meth and being in possession of a firearm. Police, as well as agents from Probation and Parole, searched for Gabbert after the first shooting.
Police found Gabbert's Jeep backing out of the driveway of a home on East 11th Street at about 8 p.m. Aug. 10. Police stopped the Jeep and found Larson was the driver and sole occupant.
Police found half an ounce of methamphetamine in three separate bags in Larson's purse, an affidavit says. Several marijuana pipes were also found in her home.
Officers spoke with Larson, who said she was just holding the meth for Gabbert until he returned in a few hours.
Larson also reportedly told officers that Gabbert had dropped the Jeep off at her house at about 4 p.m. that day. He wanted to trade cars, she said, so he could leave town. She reportedly let him take her 2015 Nissan Xterra.
The next day, police learned Larson was driving the Xterra near the Fort Caspar Campground. Officers stopped the vehicle and arrested Larson for felony methamphetamine possession.