Five Tampa residents were sentenced to federal prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine into the Hillsborough County Jail, resulting in serious bodily injury.
Seneca Dukes, 42, David Marty, 43, Emmanuel Gotay Hernandez, 34, Miriam Marti-Benning, 49, and Michelle Lipinski, 35, all from Tampa, were sentenced.
Dukes and Marty, who were the leaders of the conspiracy, were sentenced to 26 years and 25 years, respectively.
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Gotay Hernandez was sentenced to 9 years, Marti-Benning to 8 years and two months, and Lipinski to 5 years and three months in federal prison.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), in March 2021, the group conspired to obtain controlled substances and smuggle them into the Hillsborough County Falkenburg Road Jail.
Dukes and Marty were housed in the same pod at the jail, and Lipinski, who worked as a nurse at the jail, routinely visited their pod.
Dukes developed a relationship with Lipinski and asked her to meet with Marti-Benning to get packages from her and bring them to him during her rounds.
Marty had his sister, Marti-Benning, obtain controlled substances, package them, and give them to Lipinski. Marty also enlisted the help of Gotay Hernandez, who was previously an inmate in the same jail pod as Dukes and Marty.
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Gotay Hernandez obtained fentanyl and, at Marty’s direction, provided it to Marti-Benning, who in turn provided it to Lipinski.
On March 29, 2021, Lipinski smuggled packages containing fentanyl and methamphetamine into the jail during her rounds and delivered them to Dukes.
The next morning, an inmate in the pod overdosed on the smuggled fentanyl, but jail medical personnel saved his life by administering Narcan.
This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Homeland Security Investigations.
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