LOS ANGELES
A former San Bernardino County resident was sentenced Wednesday to eight years and nine months in federal prison for providing about 2.2 pounds of fentanyl and 2.2 pounds of heroin in exchange for machine guns, grenade launchers, and a case of what he believed were six dozen live grenades, officials stated.
Pedro Roberto Hernandez-Gomez, 32, formerly of San Bernardino and who was a resident of Tijuana, Mexico at the time of his arrest, according to officials.
Hernandez-Gomez pleaded guilty on March 12 to one count of distribution of fentanyl.
The distribution of illegal drugs poses a serious danger to the community, especially the distribution of fentanyl, a potent and powerful opioid,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “Further concerning is that [Hernandez-Gomez] was providing this large quantity of drugs in exchange for dangerous firearms, that is, machine guns and grenade launchers.”
In January 2020, prosecutors stated that Hernandez-Gomez agreed to provide narcotics in exchange for firearms to a person he believed was a drug customer, but who was, in fact,
a source working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Hernandez-Gomez provided the heroin and fentanyl to the source and an undercover ATF agent.
In exchange for the narcotics, Hernandez-Gomez received three machine guns, two grenade launchers, and one case of 72 inert grenades, which Hernandez-Gomez believed were actual grenades.
Hernandez-Gomez possessed these firearms despite having been previously convicted of a felony offense – possession with intent to distribute heroin – in federal court in Arizona in February 2014.
He was sentenced to three years in federal prison for that offense.
The ATF investigated this matter.