Two North Platte meth distributers are heading to federal prison, part of a series of federal sentencings after a three-year. focused investigation of drug distribution in the area.

John Hernandez, 36, also known as “Hboy,” was sentenced Thursday to 12 years, plus a month. And, Nikki Guerra, 46, will serve 2.5 years, plus a month. There is no parole in the federal system. After they get out of prison, they will be under supervision for five more years.

Hernandez and Guerra are the fourth and fifth dealers to be sentenced federally since Sept. 5 for distributing meth in the North Platte area.

U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr said Hernandez was convicted of distribution of five grams or more of actual meth. Investigators believe he was also selling fentanyl.

Lehr said in 2021, the FBI and a task force of Nebraska law officers opened an investigation into drug trafficking in the North Platte area. In March 2022, officers set up a controlled buy over Facebook.

Hernandez did not sell the drugs at the controlled buy, but investigators saw him approach the buy location and they also recorded an audio of him talking about the transaction.

Lehr said through surveillance and debriefings, investigators found that Hernandez supplied the meth that was sold during the buy.

At some point, other drug users told investigators they were concerned that Hernandez was selling drugs, including fentanyl, to young people, Lehr said. He was identified as a major source of both meth and fentanyl.

In February 2023, officers saw an 11-year-old who appeared to be under the influence of drugs in Hernandez’s home. Two months later, police found a runaway from Colorado who had stayed at Hernandez’s house and reportedly used fentanyl there. Lehr said the runaway carried paraphernalia that is used to ingest fentanyl.

A search warrant was served a month later, in May 2023, at Hernandez’s house. Lehr said during the search, Hernandez talked to officers after he had been advised of his rights and told them that he was working to put together money to travel to Julesburg, Colo. to re-up his drug supply. He said he was going to buy four ounces of meth and at least 100 fentanyl pills.

Lehr said that later, Hernandez gave another statement to law enforcement, identifying himself as the biggest meth dealer in North Platte. He talked some about his sources, and said that he had purchased and sold at least 100 ounces of meth and about 2,400 fentanyl pills in North Platte.

When U.S. District Judge Susan M. Bazis issued the prison sentence, she pointed out that Hernandez’s lengthy criminal history includes domestic assaults. She surmised that Hernandez is violent and dangerous when using drugs. Bazis also noted that children were living with Hernandez while he was dealing, and he exposed them to hazardous, if not outright lethal, substances.

“You have got to protect kids,” Bazis told him.

Lehr said the case was investigated by the CODE Task Force, comprised of law enforcement agencies in a 22-county area in west-central and southwest Nebraska. It includes the North Platte police, Dawson County sheriff’s office, Lincoln County sheriff’s office, Red Willow County sheriff’s office, Frontier County sheriff’s office, Nebraska State Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Hernandez was living in Lincoln when he was arrested. The Lincoln Police Department’s Safe Streets Taskforce helped bring him in.

(See a separate article about Nikki Guerra’s sentencing.)

© 2024 The North Platte Bulletin. All rights reserved.