FrANKLIN ANTONIO RIOS, Armed Drug Trafficking, North Carolina 2018

Raleigh – A Hope Mills man was sentenced to 34 years in prison for his involvement in a heroin trafficking ring that operated in the Fayetteville area.

FrANKLIN ANTONIO RIOS, 49, of Hope Mills, North Carolina, was sentenced to 408 months' imprisonment, followed by 4 years of supervised release, by United States District Judge James C. Dever III on May 30, 2019.

Rios pleaded guilty on August 7, 2018, to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute 100 Grams or More of Heroin and two counts of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.

KAYLA NICOLE HOSKINS, 24, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, also pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute a Quantity of Heroin and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime and Aiding and Abetting on July 23, 2018. She was sentenced to 54 months' imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release on May 30, 2019.

The investigation, led by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration, revealed that Rios had been receiving shipments of heroin from his source of supply, which in turn received regularly-scheduled shipments from the New Jersey area.

Between October 20, 2015, and May 2, 2016, undercover law enforcement officers conducted 12 controlled purchases of heroin and firearms from Rios, with one of those purchases taking place at a convenience store in Hope Mills.

Rios was also found to have maintained a premises for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance, and several of his customers overdosed from the heroin he provided.

The prosecution is part of an extensive investigation by the United States Attorney's Office's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which has been implemented through the Take Back North Carolina Initiative.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/hope-mills-man-sentenced-34-years-armed-drug-trafficking