California Man Guilty Of Heroin Trafficking Conspiracy

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that Crispin Fernandez, age 26, a California resident, pleaded guilty on August 30, 2019, to participating in a conspiracy that transported more than a kilogram of heroin from California to Carbon County, Pennsylvania, before U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion.   

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Fernandez admitted to conspiring with others to send more than one kilogram of heroin via couriers between July 2018 and the present. A kilogram of heroin is equivalent to approximately 40,000 retail bags of heroin.

Fernandez was charged in a superseding information with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute in excess of one kilogram of heroin. Agents seized close to three kilograms during the investigation in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Judge Mannion ordered a presentence investigation to be completed. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

The charge against Fernandez resulted from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Illinois State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.  

This case is also a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This case was also brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

The maximum penalty under federal law is life imprisonment. The charge also carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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