A former Monroe County Sheriff's Office corrections officer who agreed to smuggle drugs into the Florida Keys was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison Wednesday.
Shawn Michael Hernandez, 33, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to charges of possession with intent to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to traffic narcotics and possession of a firearm in commission of a felony.
A federal judge sentenced him to 16 years and 3 months in prison and five years of supervised release, according to U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Annette Castillo.
Hernandez and his co-defendant, former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Jonathan Scott Jacox, 33, were snared in a 2 1/2-month Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FBI investigation that began on Feb. 2 when Hernandez contacted an undercover agent in Homestead about transporting drugs to the Florida Keys.
Hernandez picked up a kilogram of cocaine and took it to an undercover agent on Stock Island in exchange for $1,500 and made another pickup on March 12 for shipment to Key West. On the March 12 trip, 4 kilograms of fake "cocaine" and 1 kilogram of fake "heroin" were used.
Hernandez was paid $5,000, of which Jacox was to receive a cut for working as "armed counter-surveillance" during that trip.
Both men were arrested on April 17 after making a third run of fake drugs to Key West for an additional $5,000.
State and federal agents taped conversations with both men, neither of whom was on duty when the crimes took place, but were fired after their arrests, according to Monroe County Sheriff Bob Peryam and wildlife commission spokeswoman Carol Pratt.
Jacox in September was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison, including five years of supervised release after prison on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin; conspiracy to posses a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime; and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. He pleaded guilty to those charges on June 5.
alinhardt@keysnews.com