No. 22-2932 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Jesse Neri

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Nebraska - Omaha ____________

Submitted: May 11, 2023 Filed: July 19, 2023 ____________ Before SHEPHERD, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge.

Following a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation, Jessi Neri pled guilty to three counts involving methamphetamine: possession, distribution, and conspiracy. The district court1 sentenced Neri to 210 months’

1 The Honorable Brian C. Buescher, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska. imprisonment on each count, all terms to run concurrently. On appeal, Neri raises three claims of procedural error and argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I.

On January 5, 2021, an undercover officer working with the DEA coordinated a purchase of methamphetamine from a known supplier believed to reside in Mexico. The plan was for the parties to meet at a business in Omaha, Nebraska, to conduct the exchange. After the undercover officer arrived at the proposed meeting location, he noticed two individuals waiting for him in a vehicle, which he later learned belonged to Neri. One was in the passenger seat and the other was in the driver’s seat. The undercover officer approached the vehicle and asked if they had “the stuff.” The individual in the passenger seat responded, “yeah,” and handed the undercover officer an open cardboard box containing approximately one pound of methamphetamine. The officer then paid the individual in the passenger seat $4,100 in cash, the previously agreed-upon price, and the men went on their way.

Following the controlled buy, investigators coordinated a traffic stop of the vehicle to verify the passengers’ identities. During the stop, the investigators confirmed that Neri was the individual in the passenger seat and his brother, Oswaldo, was in the driver’s seat. Based on Neri’s driver’s license photograph, the undercover officer positively identified Neri as the person who handed him the methamphetamine.

Using this information, the investigators obtained a search warrant for Neri and Oswaldo’s shared residence. Approximately a week after the transaction, investigators executed the warrant. During their search, they discovered a digital scale and baggies, as well as approximately six pounds of methamphetamine in Oswaldo’s closet. Investigators arrested both Neri and Oswaldo.

-2- On the morning Neri’s trial was scheduled to begin, he pled guilty to all counts, while Oswaldo proceeded to trial. The same district judge who sentenced Neri presided over Oswaldo’s trial, where “absolutely overwhelming” evidence convinced a jury to convict him on all counts. Soon after, the United States Probation Office released its initial Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) in preparation for Neri’s sentencing. Neri filed several objections. As relevant here, Neri objected to (1) the Probation Office’s attribution of the six pounds of methamphetamine discovered in Oswaldo’s closet to him, thereby increasing his base offense level; (2) the Probation Office’s suggested two-level enhancement for Neri’s knowledge that the methamphetamine was imported unlawfully; and (3) the Probation Office’s recommendation t