Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Heroin Trafficking

Gulfport, Miss. – Michael Anthony Herrera, 42, of Austin, Texas, pled guilty today before Senior U.S. District U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., to possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Jere T. Miles with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans. 

On September 28, 2018, Herrera made a delivery of heroin and methamphetamine to an individual in a local restaurant parking lot in Gulfport.  Moments after the delivery, agents with Homeland Security Investigations and deputies with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Herrera.  Agents and deputies located heroin and methamphetamine in Herrera’s truck and more heroin in a nearby hotel room that Herrera had been occupying.  In total, agents found two kilograms of heroin and one kilogram of meth.

Herrera will be sentenced by Judge Guirola on October 16, 2019, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn R. Van Buskirk and Narcotics Section Chief Annette Williams.