Ramon Lugo Rentas, Heroin Trafficking, Rhode Island 2014

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Providence resident has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a heroin trafficking operation.

Ramon Lugo Rentas, 50, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess and distribute heroin, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha, United States Marshal Jamie A. Hainsworth and Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.

Rentas was charged with trafficking heroin after U.S. Marshals and Task Force members discovered him hiding inside a Providence residence where he stored and sold heroin.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. also ordered Rentas to serve three years supervised release upon completion of his prison term. Rentas pleaded guilty in May 2014 to possession with the intent to distribute heroin.

According to information presented to the court, prior to the date of his arrest, Rentas had been observed by law enforcement at a residence in the Smith Hill section of Providence. On April 18, 2013, as members of the U.S. Marshals Service and the State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force entered the residence, other members of the law enforcement team who had maintained a perimeter outside the building saw Rentas discard an object into a pail on a second floor porch, and then reenter the building.

Rentas was located hiding on a second floor landing, where law enforcement also seized a scale and other items used in the packaging and distribution of heroin. A court authorized search warrant for a 3rd floor apartment Rentas was staying in was obtained. A search by law enforcement resulted in the seizure of three bags of heroin, $6,565 in cash and additional items used in the packaging and distribution of heroin.

Rentas admitted to law enforcement and to the court that the items seized belonged to him and that he engaged in the sale of heroin. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force.

This case is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's initiative to reduce violent crime in America's cities.

For more information on the investigation and prosecution of this case, please contact the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island at 401-709-5357 or USARI.Media@usdoj.gov.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ri/pr/providence-resident-sentenced-federal-prison-conspiring-possess-and-distribute-heroin