FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 18, 2007
MANUEL FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on October 17, 2007, before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, MANUEL FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, a 26-year-old resident of Belfry, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Sentencing is set for January 16, 2008. He is currently detained.
At the change of plea proceeding, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
From approximately the spring of 2005 to May of 2006, HERNANDEZ and several other individuals were involved in a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine in the Billings area.
HERNANDEZ faces possible penalties of a mandatory 10 years in prison and could be sentence to life in prison, a $4,000,000 fine and 5 years supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.
# # # #
