Last of 5 heroin traffickers sentenced

The last of five central Ohioans convicted of participating in a heroin-trafficking ring that received large amounts of the drug from a cartel in Mexico was sentenced Thursday.

Ellery L. Cardenas, 43, of Columbus, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and heroin trafficking.

The leader of the ring, Jose A. GoveaJimenez, 47, of Lewis Center, was sentenced in October to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and three counts of heroin trafficking.

Police seized nearly 18 kilograms of heroin, 11 firearms and more than $20,000 in cash at several locations around Franklin County during raids in late 2016. The group was suspected of having received 70 to 100 kilograms of heroin — as much as 220 pounds — from the Mexican cartel, investigators said. The ring operated out of several residences and storage units in Columbus, Hilliard and Lewis Center.

Two of the other defendants, Jose Millan, 27, and Jennifer L. Guy, 33, both also of Columbus, entered the same guilty pleas as Cardenas. Millan was sentenced in December to 11 years in prison. Guy was sentenced in October to four years and 11 months in prison.

Jose Sanchez, 34, of Columbus, was placed on probation for 30 months in July after pleading guilty to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Assistant Prosecutor Dan Stanley, who prosecuted the cases, said Sanchez secured stash houses for the group, but was not directly involved in trafficking.

All of the sentences were imposed by Judge Kimberly Cocroft.