Matthew R. Molsen United States Attorney for the District of Nebraska | U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska
Acting United States Attorney Matthew R. Molsen has announced the sentencing of Luis Perez, 37, from Rosenburg, Texas. On March 12, 2025, in a federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, Perez was sentenced for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. United States District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher handed down an 87-month prison sentence. Following his release, Perez will undergo a three-year term of supervised release and must pay a $10,000 fine.
The investigation began when law enforcement identified co-defendant Gary Pope as a cocaine dealer in Omaha. A wiretap on Pope's cell phone in 2022 revealed that he received cocaine shipments from Perez. These shipments were sent from Texas via courier Joseph Reyes. Reyes was apprehended on May 23, 2022, in Kansas with two kilograms of cocaine intended for Omaha.
After Reyes's arrest, Pope sourced cocaine from another supplier based in Texas. Co-defendant Lonnie Embers was arrested on July 15, 2022, in Oklahoma with two kilograms of cocaine en route to Omaha from this alternate supplier.
Perez is the last among four defendants to be sentenced. Pope received an 87-month sentence for the Nebraska case and an additional 66 months for charges prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa related to marijuana distribution and firearm possession during drug trafficking. Reyes and Embers were each sentenced to serve 46 months.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted this investigation as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening the United States through a collaborative approach involving multiple agencies.
Further details about OCDETF can be accessed at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
