CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Jacob Daniel Pimentel-Hernandez, 22, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, was sentenced to serve 188 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the case, stated that on June 2, 2021, Pimentel-Hernandez sold fentanyl to two individuals, identified as E.G. and M.H., in the area of the Valero gas station at 799 North Clinton Avenue in Rochester. After ingesting the fentanyl, E.G. and M.H. began to drive home but pulled over on the side of the road on Interstate 490 in Gates, NY, and were later found unconscious and unresponsive in the car. M.H. was taken to Unity Hospital but never regained consciousness and died a day later, on June 3, 2021. That same day, an undercover law enforcement officer purchased fentanyl from Pimentel-Hernandez at the same Valero gas station. Pimentel-Hernandez was subsequently arrested, at which time investigators recovered $580 in cash, quantities of fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl, cocaine, and a loaded .380 caliber pistol from the defendant.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino; the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (GRANET); the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter; and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David M. Smith.
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