4 Charged in Cocaine Ring Out of Linthicum Heights

Four men were charged in an alleged drug ring this week after authorities reported seizing $2.4 million in cash and 31 kilograms of cocaine in Linthicum Heights following a months-long investigation.

The DEA began its investigation in August 2015 after a tip from the agency's Los Angeles office that a group was "trafficking large amounts of cocaine into Maryland" to a warehouse in the 7100 block of Golden Ring Road, according to the affidavit from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The suspected drug traffickers were evicted from the Golden Ring location and moved to a new warehouse in the 700 block of Hammonds Ferry Road in Linthicum Heights, where investigators witnessed an alleged drop-off on April 6 and pickup on April 8, the affidavit states.

The following have been charged:

• Hector M. Hernandez-Villapando, 63, of the 1400 block of Pangbourne Way in Hanover
• Enixae Hernandez-Barba, 33, of the 100 block of John Avenue in Linthicum Heights
• Hector L. Hernandez-Barba, 39, of Las Vegas
• William Frederick Cornish, 52, of the 3000 block of Cascade Drive in Abingdon

Officials said that on April 8, they saw Cornish pull his silver Ford F-150 into one of the loading bays at the Hammonds Ferry Road warehouse, and when he left, police stopped him and a Maryland State Police drug detection dog alerted for suspected narcotics inside.

Police found a cardboard box in the back seat of the truck that contained 31 bricks, or 31 kilograms of cocaine, which has a value in Baltimore of $1 million, according to the affidavit.

A search of Cornish's home uncovered a digital scale, money counter, latex gloves, colored rubber bands and a radio frequency detector used to sweep people for the presence of wires, the affidavit stated.

A search of the warehouse on Hammonds Ferry Road revealed stretch wrap, duffle bags, a forklift and a FedEx package bearing Hernandez-Villapando's previous address at a Columbia apartment, according to the affidavit.

"Investigators observed that there was nothing inside of the warehouse that would indicate that the premises were being utilized for any legitimate or operating business," the affidavit stated.

In conducting surveillance since January, officials said they had seen Hernandez-Villapando and both Hernandez-Barba men going to the warehouse on Hammonds Ferry Road, to the Columbia apartment, to Hernandez-Villapando's Hanover residence and to Enixae Hernandez-Barba's residence in Linthicum Heights.

In Enixae Hernandez-Barba's home in the 100 block of John Avenue, officials said they found a drug ledger and duffel bags containing vacuum-sealed bags of cash totaling $2.4 million.

The four men were arrested the evening of Friday, April 8.

Both the Anne Arundel County Police Department and the Annapolis Police Department took part in the investigation.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.