Texas Man Sentenced for Cocaine Conspiracy

United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Lonnie Embers, age 53, of San Marcos, Texas, was sentenced August 19, 2024, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Embers to 46 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Embers’s release from prison, he will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.

Drug Enforcement Agents agents became aware of co-defendant Gary Pope II as a dealer of cocaine in the Omaha area. This led to a three-month wiretap of Pope’s cell phone in 2022. The wiretap intercepts and resulting investigation confirmed that Pope would receive cocaine deliveries from Texas in kilogram quantities and sell the cocaine in lesser quantities in the Omaha area.

Embers talked on the phone with Pope about distributing cocaine and was seen meeting with Pope at an Omaha hotel for a suspected one-kilogram transaction in June 2022. On July 15, 2022, Embers was arrested in Oklahoma with approximately two kilograms of cocaine and two firearms, a loaded 9 mm pistol and a .270-caliber rifle in a gun case. After being advised of his rights, Embers told investigators he was being paid to transport the cocaine to Omaha from San Antonio.

Pope, age 42, was sentenced to 87 months in prison earlier this year. Pope also received an additional 66-month sentence in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

Co-defendant Joseph Reyes, age 34, of Houston has been sentenced to 46 months in prison.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.