HARRISBURG—Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry today announced that Ferdinand Cuevas-Heredia of Luzerne County has been sentenced to 40-80 years for charges related to multiple sexual assaults and for attempting to arrange the murders of witnesses tied to those crimes.
“The defendant’s conduct in this case is outrageous,” said Acting AG Henry. “By threatening these witnesses, he threatened every person who has made the brave choice to be a witness in the court of law. My office will not, under any circumstances, tolerate this kind of behavior and we will fiercely prosecute any individual who uses violence and intimidation to attempt to influence our justice system.”
An investigation by the Office of Attorney General, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Pittston Police Department revealed that beginning in 2014, Cuevas-Heredia used violence to repeatedly sexually assault female members of his family, including multiple minors as young as six years old.
In September 2022, while awaiting trial for the sexual assault charges, Cuevas-Heredia contacted an undercover officer and indicated that he wanted three people killed, following up with a letter detailing his plan. The defendant’s mother delivered an envelope of cash on behalf of Cuevas-Heredia to the undercover officer as payment for the planned killing of the witnesses.
In addition to his sentence, Cuevas-Heredia was classified as a Sexually Violent Predator.
This case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Amanda McCool and Senior Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Elo.
# # #