Gloucester man sentenced in federal court

Ryan Fernandes, 30, of Gloucester was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Newport News to 204 months in prison and three years of supervised release, according to Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Fernandes pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2013 to conspiracy to distribute analogues. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 10, 2013 for his activities as the owner/operator of the Treasure Box on Route 17 in Hayes. In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Fernandes admitted to conspiring with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a variety of analogue drugs, commonly referred to as “spice” and “bath salts,” between January 2012 and July 2012. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the IRS-Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Virginia State Police Tri-Rivers, the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office and others. reprinted from August 7, 2014 with permission from Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal