The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has announced that Lonnie Wayne Rogers, 31, from Reno has been sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison.

This came as a result of guilty pleas in two separate cases for drug trafficking and felony eluding.

Rogers pled guilty in August to one count of Trafficking in Methamphetamine and Heroin after an investigation by the Regional Narcotics Unit (RNU) located 225 grams of methamphetamine and 119 grams of heroin.

Rogers also pled guilty to one count of Felony Eluding, which resulted from further investigation by RNU into continued criminal conduct by Rogers. 

RNU detectives had received information that Rogers had used a fictitious check to post bail and was continuing to sell narcotics.

Detectives executed a sting on Rogers at a local hotel where Rogers fled and drove through a fence at high speeds before crashing his vehicle and surrendering.

In briefs filed with the court and argument presented at Rogers sentencing hearings, Deputy District Attorneys Michael Vieta-Kabell and Stephan Hollandsworth urged the court to issue the lengthy sentence.

In justifying their request for over a decade in prison, the prosecutors pointed to the number of fatal overdoses occurring in the community from the use of drugs, that Rogers’ criminal history and most recent crimes showed he targeted the Washoe County community, as well as Rogers’ callous disregard for anyone he might have been put in danger when attempting to flee from the scene of his second arrest.

Rogers will be eligible for parole after 10 years.