Jury Convicts Atlanta-Based Supplier Of Heroin And Methamphetamine To Cartel-Linked Drug Trafficking Organization In Bradenton

Tampa, FL – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that a federal jury has found Alexis Hernandez (52, Lilburn, GA) guilty of conspiracy to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin and more than five hundred grams of methamphetamine. He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 30, 2017.

Hernandez was charged in a superseding indictment on April 25, 2017, along with five other members of a Bradenton-based drug trafficking organization. Damien Avellaneda-Hernandez, Gonzalo Delarosa, a/k/a “Gordo,” Glenn Olvera, and Sergio David Gutierrez-Olmos, a/k/a “Chavo,” a/k/a “Chilango” previously pleaded guilty for their roles in this case. On August 31, 2017, Gutierrez-Olmos was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. The others will be sentenced in the near future. Francisco Avellaneda-Hernandez, a/k/a “Flaco,” remains at large.

According to evidence presented at trial, Hernandez was a supplier of heroin and methamphetamine to the Francisco Avellaneda-Hernandez Drug Trafficking Organization, a group with ties to a cartel based in Michoacan, Mexico, and operating in Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. Between January and August 2016, law enforcement officers seized more than 20 kilograms of methamphetamine in the Middle District of Florida linked to the organization. In addition, evidence was presented at trial showing that Hernandez and others had arranged the transport of 2 kilograms of heroin and 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine to Manhattan. Hernandez was arrested in Manhattan on September 27, 2016.

This case is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation entitled “Amarillo Sky.” The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office, the Lakeland Police Department, the Plant City Police Department, and the New York Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dan Baeza and Diego Novaes.