Three others admit to trafficking of illegal narcotics
DALLAS - Nancy Pineda, 28, of Farmers Branch, Texas, appeared in federal court, this week, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez and pleaded guilty to her role in selling the heroin that caused a young woman’s overdose death at a McDonald’s restaurant in Farmers Branch in June 2016, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Pineda pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. Pineda has been in custody since the time of her arrest in October 2016. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2018.
Three other men, charged in the same case, also appeared this week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ramirez and U.S. Magistrate Judge Stickney and pleaded guilty to their roles in the trafficking of illegal narcotics. Rogelio Bernal, 20, and Steven Gomez, 19, both of Dallas, Texas, and Zakariah Michael Wolf, 29, of Greenville, Texas, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. They will remain in custody pending sentencing, which is also set for Jan. 11, 2018.
The defendants face a maximum penalty of not more than 20 years in prison and a fine up to $1,000,000.
According to the factual resume filed in Pineda’s case, in June 2016 Pineda sold user quantities of heroin out of a vehicle in the Dallas area. Specifically, on June 8, 2016, Pineda travelled by car to a restaurant in Dallas to sell $20 worth of heroin to co-defendant Anthony Jaramillo. Jaramillo then delivered the heroin to an individual identified as M.H. On that same day, M.H. died at a McDonalds restaurant in Farmers Branch, Texas, after injecting the heroin she purchased from Jaramillo.
According to factual resumes filed in the case, beginning in 2016 until March 9, 2017, Bernal, and Gomez conspired to distribute illegal narcotics to customers in the Dallas area, as well as others who would travel from other cities to obtain drugs from them, including Wolf. Wolf would purchase heroin from Bernal or Gomez, then distribute that heroin and other illegal narcotics in the Greenville, TX, area.
A search warrant executed on March 9, 2017 at the residence of Bernal and Gomez revealed a number of weapons, 490 grams crack cocaine, and 2,036 grams of methamphetamine.
The Farmers Branch Police Department, Greenville Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case with assistance from the Grand Prairie Police Department and Dallas Police Department. Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Calvert and Assistant U.S. Attorney Myria Boehm are prosecuting.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
