Joshua Nathaniel Mast, 24, of Newton, was sentenced to serve six to eight years in prison following his conviction for trafficking fentanyl by possession on separate occasions during Catawba County Superior Court on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
The Honorable Karen Eady Williams, Superior Court Judge from Mecklenburg County, imposed terms of the sentence after Mast entered the guilty plea.
Mast was given an active sentence on one of the charges and a suspended sentence of eight to 19 months for a probationary period of 36 months on the other. If that suspended sentence is activated, it will be served at the end of the first active prison term.
He also will have to pay mandatory fines totaling $1 million.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
On October 2, 2024, an officer for the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office made an undercover purchase from the defendant following social media messaging between the parties. The substance was sent to the State Crime Lab for analysis and was determined to be fentanyl.
The other incident occurred September 6, 2024, and involved another undercover purchase from Mast. The officer met the defendant at a local hotel and made the purchase following contact again through social media, making the exchange of drugs for money inside a vehicle. The substance was tested by the State Crime Lab and confirmed to be fentanyl.
Danny Jenkins of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office was the lead investigator with assistance from Deputy Haas and K-9 Odin, and the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division. Assistant District Attorney Taylor Rockett prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Stacey London.