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3 Lancaster County drug dealers sentenced, fourth convicted in fentanyl-laced heroin overdose deaths

LANCASTER COUNTY — Three drug dealers were sentenced to state prison terms and a fourth dealer was convicted for supplying the fentanyl responsible for fo...
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LANCASTER COUNTY — Three drug dealers were sentenced to state prison terms and a fourth dealer was convicted for supplying the fentanyl responsible for four overdose deaths in Lancaster County, according to prosecutors.

The four incidents were investigated separately, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said.

Prosecutors determined all four defendants were dealing for profit and not to supply their own addictions.

Alejandro Yens, Jesse Hernandez, and Daniel Malena Velez Jr. pleaded guilty and were sentenced in accordance to the terms of their plea agreements, while Kim Burgess Jr. was convicted at a jury trial, prosecutors say.

  • Burgess, 39, was convicted of supplying fentanyl-laced heroin to a woman who died in Conestoga Township on Oct. 5, 2017. He will be sentenced in December. His bail was raised to $1 million after his conviction, prosecutors say.
  • Yens, 19, will serve a five to 15-year prison term for providing fentanyl to a woman who died in Elizabethtown on Nov. 9, 2017. Prosecutors say Yens was dealing drugs for a lengthy period of time.
  • Hernandez, 61, will serve three to 12 years in prison for providing fentanyl-laced heroin to a man who died in Lancaster on March 30, 2018. Police determined Hernandez was an intermediate between the victim and Wilfredo Perez-Lopez, who was the supplier. Perez-Lopez, 41, was previously sentenced to 6½ to 15 years in prison.
  • Malena Velez, 21, will serve six to 15 years in prison for supplying to a man who died in his Manheim Township home on Nov. 20, 2018. Manheim Township and Lancaster City Police traced the transaction to Malena Velez because of the way he packaged heroin: in tinfoil. (Heroin is traditionally sold in small baggies.) Malena Velez has a prior felony drug conviction.

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