AUGUSTA — A New Yorker who failed to appear for a hearing in April 2015 was back in front of a judge Friday at the Capital Judicial Center to plead guilty to cocaine trafficking.
Peter Kerwin “Jay” Hernandez, now 26, of Bronx, was arrested Thursday when he went to the Capital Judicial Center.
He was taken into custody after his brother sought return of $10,000 cash bail he previously had posted for Hernandez.
On Friday, Peter Hernandez pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking in cocaine and agreed to the criminal forfeiture of $2,240 allegedly found on his person and an additional $400 allegedly found in a separate bag on Dec. 22, 2014, in Augusta.
Two additional charges of unlawful trafficking in heroin, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, 2014, in Augusta, were dismissed in exchange for the pleas.
Hernandez was ordered to serve an initial 18 months of a six-year prison term, with the remainder suspended, and two years’ probation. He also was fined $400.
Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley said Hernandez had a criminal record that consisted only of a 2012 incident of possession of marijuana in New York, for which he was fined $25.
She said that when Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers executed a search warrant Dec. 22, 2014, at 965 South Belfast Ave. in Augusta, they found a plastic bag on Hernandez “with 9 grams of cocaine base divided into retail doses” as well as the cash, which the state maintained was drug proceeds.
She also noted that the defendant has a longer period of time to serve under the joint sentencing agreement than he did originally, “because Mr. Hernandez failed to appear” in 2015.
Attorney Luke Rioux represented Hernandez.
In May 2015, a co-defendant, Heather M. Wilkinson, then 49, of Augusta, was ordered to serve an initial nine months behind bars, with the remainder of her four-year sentence suspended, and was placed on probation for two years after she pleaded guilty to heroin trafficking. She also was fined $400.
At the time, Sibley told Justice Donald Marden that Wilkinson had no prior criminal record and was being used by Peter Hernandez “as a buffer.” Sibley said Wilkinson was under the influence of heroin but cooperative when she and Hernandez were arrested Dec. 22 at Wilkinson’s home.
Sibley described Hernandez as “the out-of-state trafficker,” and Wilkinson told the judge that Hernandez “was a friend of a friend.”
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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