Lexington man convicted of distributing meth | 1340 KGFW

LINCOLN — United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Eswin Lopez-Bravo, 52, of Lexington, Nebraska, was sentenced on May 28, 2024, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, for distribution of methamphetamine.

U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Lopez-Bravo to 54 months in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Lopez-Bravo will begin a sentence of 5 years of supervised release. In addition to the prison sentence, Lopez-Bravo will forfeit $4,106 to the United States.

In January 2023, based on information that Lopez-Bravo was selling drugs at a Lexington hotel, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for his room and located Lopez-Bravo and another individual , who had an active federal warrant and was arrested. The room was registered in Lopez-Bravo's name and had been for some time, even though Lopez-Bravo also owned a house where he resided with his wife and children. During this investigation, officers learned that Lopez-Bravo was distributing methamphetamine out of the room.

During a search of the room, officers found crystal shards that tested positive for methamphetamine, plastic bags concealed under the mattress and on a nightstand, and 13.5 grams of methamphetamine concealed under a lamp. Subsequent laboratory tests confirmed that 12 grams of the 13.5 grams recovered was pure methamphetamine. US$1,712 was also recovered from Lopez-Bravo. Lopez-Bravo said it came from his job at a feedlot, but a later investigation found his most recent salary was only $800.

On June 15, 2023, Lopez-Bravo was arrested on a state warrant. A search incident to this arrest uncovered 9.8 grams of methamphetamine in his front pants pocket and an additional $2,394 in U.S. currency.

As part of this investigation, Lopez-Bravo's phone was also seized and searched. Text messages found on the phone indicated the purchase and sale of narcotics, including in the name of an individual known to law enforcement to be incarcerated in the State of California. Several photos on the phone showed money orders worth thousands of dollars being sent to North Dakota and California at the request of this individual.

This case was investigated by the CODE Drug Task Force, the Lexington Police Department, the Dawson County Sheriff's Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.