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Press Release

Berkeley County residents facing drug charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of West Virginia

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Two Berkeley County residents were indicted this week on drug charges, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Arnel Hategekimana, also known as “Dominique Cash Robinson” and “Homie,” and Kristina Gilmore, also known as “Diamond,” were indicted on one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Heroin, Fentanyl, and Cocaine Base,” one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Heroin and Fentanyl Mixture,” and one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Cocaine Base.” Hategekimana was also indicted on one count of “Possess with Intent to Distribute Forty Grams or More of a Fentanyl and Heroin Mixture,” one count of “Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base,” one count of “Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine Hydrochloride,” and one count of “Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.” Hategekimana, 21, of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Gilmore, 25, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, are accused of working together to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base in February 2020 in Berkeley County and elsewhere.

Hategekimana and Gilmore each face up to 20 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $1,000,000 for each of the first three counts. Hategekimana also faces up to 20 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $1,000,000 for each of the other three drug counts and no less than five years of incarceration for the firearms count. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

The government is also seeking the forfeiture of $4,348 in cash, a Glock pistol, and ammunition connected to this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

These charges are the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) under the Attorney General-led Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS)/Special Operations Division (SOD) Project Clean Sweep.  This initiative seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids in “hot spot” areas previously identified by the Attorney General of the United States, thereby reducing drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths, and identify wholesale distribution networks and sources of supply operating nationally and internationally. 

OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy.  Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Updated July 23, 2020

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Opioids