Jury Convicts Omaha Man of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that on April 1, 2026, a federal jury found Fernando Hernandez, 46, of Omaha, Nebraska, guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine. The verdict followed a three-day trial in front of Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. Hernandez was part of a 12-person indictment filed in April 2024. All other defendants pleaded guilty and have been sentenced or are pending sentencing.

The evidence at trial established that Hernandez was involved with a Mexican source of methamphetamine supplying the Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, areas. In late 2023, Hernandez served as a courier distributing the source's methamphetamine. On October 2, 2023, law enforcement utilized a cooperating witness who ordered one pound of methamphetamine from the Mexican source. The Mexican source sent the cooperator to an Omaha location where Hernandez delivered one pound of methamphetamine to the cooperator. After the delivery, officers surveilled Hernandez and saw him meet with two codefendants who were later stopped and found in possession of one pound of methamphetamine and $4,000. The money was forfeited as part of the investigation.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 10, 2026. Hernandez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment. He was previously convicted federally of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was released from prison in 2017 after serving nearly nine years for the previous conviction.

Thisinvestigation and prosecution are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Omaha comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local and state law enforcement agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nebraska. Agents and officers with the FBI, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Bellevue Police Department, and Lincoln Police Department testified at trial. More local and state agencies were involved in the investigation.