United States Drug Enforcement Administration

(WESTON, Fla.) - A federal jury has found Tirso Hernandez-(35, Ocala, Florida) guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, and possession with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years up to life imprisonment, on each count. Hernandez-Astudillo, a citizen of Mexico in the United States illegally, also faces potential deportation. He remains in federal custody pending a sentencing hearing on May 17, 2018.

According to court documents, on May 24, 2017, in a parking lot in Ocala, co-defendant Simon Rodriguez-(48, Ocala) sold a cooperating witness approximately four ounces of crystal methamphetamine. On June 2, 2017, at the same location, Rodriguez-Flores delivered two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine to the same cooperating witness, and was arrested by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The agents detained Hernandez-Astudillo, a passenger in Rodriguez-Flores’s car.

Immediately after the arrest, a search warrant was executed at the residence Hernandez-Astudillo shared with his cousin and co-defendant, Gilberto Astudillo-(34, Ocala). Agents recovered items used in the manufacture and packaging of crystal methamphetamine from the home. From another trailer across the street, where Hernandez-Astudillo had been earlier in the day, agents recovered a suspicious package containing approximately one kilogram of an undetermined powdery substance. Subsequent analysis of the substance revealed that it contained fentanyl. 

Rodriguez-Flores and Astudillo-Carbajal have previously pleaded guilty and remain in custody pending sentencing.

This investigated was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration Gainesville Resident Office, the Gainesville Police (PD), the Alachua County Sheriff’s (SO), the Ocala PD, the Levy County SO, and the Union County SO.  The Marion County Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team assisted in the execution of the search warrant and the arrests. It is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.