DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

ACTING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY EDWARD R. RYAN
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 31, 2009

For further information call
704.344.6222
Fax: 704.227.0264

FOUR MEN CHARGED WITH HEROIN TRAFFICKING IN CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE, NC – Agents and Officers of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrested four men on Thursday, July 30, 2009 and seized more than a pound of so called “black-tar” heroin and more than $22,000 in cash.

The arrests and seizures are part of a continuing investigation code-named “Operation Dirty Girl 3" being conducted by a multi-agency Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in which DEA, FBI, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Gaston County Police Department, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and several other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies participate. The Task Force has made other arrests and seizures in recent weeks, including the arrest of seven individuals in the Charlotte- Mecklenburg area in late June 2009.

Initial appearances for Carlos Roman-Villanueva, also known as “Domino;” Sebastian Stefanescu, also known as “Fish;”Antonio MacArthur Bryant, and Hernan Hernandez-Antonio were held in federal court today. All four defendants are being held in federal custody pending detention hearings now set for August 5, 2009. Today’s announcement is made by Edward R. Ryan, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina; Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of DEA, of which the DEA Charlotte District Office is a part; and Chief Rodney Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The prosecution is being handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman.

According to official court documents and information brought out in court proceedings, the defendants were observed conducting three drug transactions over the past two days, the last one for $22,560 worth of heroin. Both heroin and money from the last transaction were seized by DEA. The charges contained in the federal criminal complaint are allegations. In the American justice system, a person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty at trial or by guilty plea.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat Assessment 2009, “Mexican drug trafficking organizations will most likely continue to establish new markets for Mexican heroin in northeastern states. Recent encroachments by Mexican heroin distributors into more northeastern drug markets most likely indicate a determination on the part of Mexican drug trafficking organizations to expand Mexican heroin distribution in new market areas.” A copy of the National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 can be found at www.usdoj.gov/ndic/ . Further, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s State Factsheet for North Carolina, heroin use and availability is growing in North Carolina. Present in every metropolitan area in the state, heroin is transported by Mexican drug trafficking organizations in small consignments to North Carolina using private and commercial vehicles as well as express parcel services. Other Hispanic, Asian, and African-American traffickers transport South American, Southeast Asian, and Southwest Asian heroin into North Carolina from Miami, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia by private vehicles and networks of commercial bus and airline couriers.

An alarming DEA statistic reports that a 77% increase in heroin seizures in North Carolina has occurred in the “last year (2007-2008).” The DEA North Carolina Factsheet can be found at www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/state_factsheets/northcarolina.html .

Complaint number 3:09-mj-183
Carlos Roman-Villanueva
Also known as “Domino”
United States citizen, age 36,
in federal custody
Sebastian Stefanescu
Also known as “Fish”
United States citizen, age 25,
in federal custody
Antonio MacArthur Bryant
United States citizen, age 28,
in federal custody
Hernan Hernandez-Antonio
Mexico, age 28,
in federal custody