Guilty plea in Wichita drug bust that found meth stash worth $100K on the streets
Federal prosecutors said Monday a Wichita man had pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and gun crimes after authorities found nearly a dozen weapons and 20 pounds of methamphetamine packed for sale in the south-side house he and a woman were renting in 2018.
That amount of meth might have sold for around $100,000 on the streets at the time, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s 2018 Annual Methamphetamine Recommendations Report that shows street prices for the drug ranging from $3,500 to $5,000 per pound. Ounces sold for $250 to $500 apiece that year, depending on the region of Kansas where a drug transaction took place.
A complaint filed against Luis M. Hernandez says Wichita police officers executing a search warrant on Dec. 28, 2018, at the rental house, in the 300 block of South Seneca, found “multiple baggies containing what appeared to be methamphetamine” in a dresser drawer. In the home’s detached garage, the cops found more meth wrapped in plastic stowed in a white plastic barrel.
Authorities seized about 20 pounds of meth from the barrel that day, as well as 11 guns from the house, the complaint says.
Hernandez, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of unlawful possession of firearms by an alien unlawfully in the United States, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister’s Office said Monday in an emailed news release.
Hernandez will face at least 10 years in federal prison and up to a $10 million fine for the conspiracy count and up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the firearms charge when he is sentenced Dec. 16.
