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FBI
Ohio Inmate
sentenced for drug distribution
An Ohio inmate is sentenced to federal prison for running multi-state
drug distribution network from inside prison
The leader of a multi-state conspiracy that distributed heroin, cocaine
and methamphetamine while he was an inmate inside an Ohio prison was
sentenced to more than six years in prison, law enforcement officials
said.
Fernando Auces, 52, was sentenced to 78 months in prison by U.S.
District Judge James Gwin.
Auces, while an inmate at Allen Correctional Institute in Lima, Ohio,
controlled a multi-state drug operation by communicating through a
contraband cell phone with others outside the prison to arrange the
delivery and sale of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, according to
court documents.
Between 2010 and 2014, Auces and others arranged for deliveries of
large amounts of heroin to Ohio from suppliers in Indiana and Texas.
Auces recruited friends and relatives to receive and distribute the
heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine to Cleveland, Toledo and elsewhere,
according to court documents.
Auces, as part of the conspiracy, agreed with an inmate at the Southern
Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, to share customers and
drug suppliers. Auces arranged for Alexander Gonzales to distribute
drugs to various locations throughout Ohio, including Cleveland,
Akron/Canton, Dayton and Cincinnati, according to court documents.
“This defendant added more time onto his sentence, and the drug ring he
ran from prison has been disrupted,” said Carole S. Rendon, U.S.
Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
“Refuge from law enforcement can't be found behind a prison wall,” said
Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s Cleveland Office. “The Northern Ohio Law Enforcement
Task Force will continue to bring to justice drug dealers that
distribute pois0n to our streets, no matter where they reside."
“Our collective enforcement efforts in this investigation have
effectively shut down an operation that allegedly funneled copious
amounts of illegal drugs into the community," Marlon Miller, Special
Agent in Charge of HSI Detroit, which covers Michigan and Ohio. "This
sentence is the culmination of an extensive multi-agency approach to
combating drug trafficking organizations."
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vasile C.
Katsaros and Christian H. Stickan following an investigation by the
Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force. The NOLETF is a task force
comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Cleveland Division of Police, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority,
Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Cuyahoga
County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the
police departments of Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Lakewood, the Regional
Transit Authority, Westlake and Shaker Heights. The NOLETF is also one
of the initial Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiatives,
which supports and helps coordinate numerous Ohio drug task forces in
their efforts to eliminate or reduce drug trafficking in Ohio.
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