Beckley man sentenced on Federal heroin charge

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Beckley man was sentenced today in federal court in Charleston, West Virginia, to 10 years in federal prison for distribution of heroin, announced United States Attorney Booth Goodwin. Rhinelander Hernandez, 37, of Beckley, previously pleaded guilty in August 2015 to the federal drug charge.

Hernandez admitted that on December 2, 2014, he sold heroin to a confidential informant cooperating with law enforcement. The drug deal took place at the Go-Mart parking lot off South Eisenhower Drive in Beckley.

The case was investigated by the Beckley/Raleigh County Drug and Violent Crime Unit, and was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The United States Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.

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