A Columbus man has been sentenced to three years in prison for trafficking in drugs — heroin, specifically — in Delaware County.
Tomas Martinez-Lopez, 20, received the sentence Monday after he was recently convicted on two counts of trafficking in drugs — one a second-degree felony, the other a fourth-degree felony.
Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Everett Krueger credited him for the 145 days he has spent in jail since his arrest on April 22.
Martinez-Lopez was one of three Columbus residents who were arrested in April by Dublin police and charged with packaging and selling heroin.
The leader of the operation, Anselmo Magallanez-Robles, 26, was sentenced to five years for trafficking in drugs, a first-degree felony, on Aug. 21 by Krueger. Krueger credited him for the 121 days he had spent in the Delaware County Jail since his arrest.
Krueger also ordered that he pay a mandatory fine of $10,000. When he is released from prison, he will be subject to five years of probation. Krueger said.
Claudia Santos-Hernandez, 28, whom prosecutors said was a heroin packager working with Magallanez-Robles, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Aug. 19. She was credited for 117 days for time spent in jail.
Assistant county prosecutor Brian Walter said the trio was arrested April 22 when Delaware County Drug Task Force units and Dublin police executed a search warrant at an address on Valley Ridge in Columbus. Walter said the three are not U.S. citizens and do not have Social Security numbers.
Walter added that investigators spoke to Magallanez-Robles on several occasions to arrange drug deals and said that Magallanez-Robles appeared at one of the transactions. Martinez-Lopez was reportedly at the other four drug deals. Walter said investigators were able to purchase more than 150 balloons of heroin — close to eight grams — during one of the drug deals.
The deals occurred in a parking lot adjacent to the Best Buy store at Polaris in Delaware County, prosecutors said.
Martinez-Lopez was in the Delaware County Jail on Monday, awaiting a transport to prison. The other two have already begun serving their sentences.
