COLUMBUS, Ohio - Roman Hernandez, 38, of Grove City, appeared in U.S. District Court today on charges related to the distribution of more than 1,000 grams of heroin. A federal grand jury previously charged Hernandez in a three-count indictment.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Guy A. Ficco, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, Marlon V. Miller, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott and other members of Central Ohio HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Drug Task Force announced the indictment. The HIDTA Task Force is operated as part of the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission.
The indictment alleges that in April 2013 Hernandez possessed the heroin with the intent of distributing it. The defendant also allegedly possessed a firearm as a convicted felon and purchased criminally derived property worth more than $10,000, namely, a property on Manitoba Road in Columbus, Ohio.
Possession with intent to distribute more than 1,000 grams of heroin is a crime punishable by up to life in prison. Possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity each carry a maximum sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment.
Hernandez was arrested in April and has been in custody since.
U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation of this case by the Central Ohio HIDTA Task Force, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Prichard, who is prosecuting the case.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
