Bel Air Ringleader’s Sentencing Brings End to Cases Against Prescription Drug Ring

The sentencing Tuesday of the leader of a local oxycodone distribution ring brought an end to the prosecution of 13 people arrested nearly two years ago in one of the county’s largest recent drug busts.

According to federal documents, the case was broken in part after the interstate ring sent a large number of pills to the home of a woman who was not expecting them and alerted police.

The ringleader, Ronnie Stocks, 34, of Bel Air was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 10 and a half years in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone.

Stocks’ case was the last still open among 14 people who were arrested and charged in April 2011 for various roles in the drug ring. With Stocks at the head, prosecutors charged three other men with primary roles in the organization: Joseph Ercolano, 33, of Fallston; Sean Holloway, 37, of White Marsh, and Eric Smith, 35, of Nottingham. The first two each received three-year sentences, while Smith was sentenced to two years.

Six of the remaining seven individuals swept up in the investigation all pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, including possession and distribution of oxycodone; charged were dropped against one man. A complete breakdown of the charges and sentences for each person arrested appears below.

Stocks came to the attention of the Harford County Task Force, an inter-agency organization which investigates narcotics cases, in the winter of 2011 following surveillance and “cooperator information,” according to his plea agreement. Authorities tapped Stocks’ phones and, over six weeks, listened as he conducted “dozens” of drug transactions. Other informants told police that Stocks was obtaining oxycodone pills from approximately 12 sources, and redistributing them in amounts of more than $100 at a time to three dozen customers.

Among Stocks’ suppliers was Sandra Reinoso of Vero Beach, Florida, and her husband, Rudolfo Detommasso. According to Reinoso’s plea agreement, Detommasso received large amounts of several types of prescription pills from doctors in that state. The couple began selling pills to Stocks in 2010, according to court documents, most of which were sent to him through the mail.

On Feb. 18, Harford County officials intercepted a package of 140 30 mg oxycodone pills sent to Stocks at the home of another woman, where he was supposed to pick up the pills. The woman was unaware the pills were coming, and called police.

After confirming that Reinoso and Detommasso had sold and shipped thousands of pills to Stocks, and that Stocks had subsequently sold them to others, authorities in both states moved to arrest those involved.

Stocks was arrested on April 14, and a search of his residence and vehicle turned up 40 oxycodone pills. According to his plea agreement in federal court, Stocks told officers that he “was tired of selling drugs” and had sought a legitimate job. When shown a text message in which he boasted of having sold drugs for seven years, according to court records, “Stocks laughed and stated that he ‘stuck [his] foot in [his] mouth on that one.’”

Reinoso was arrested in Vero Beach the next day with 166 oxycodone pills in her possession, and told officers that she had received 2,525 such pills in the previous year. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and was sentenced March 28 to 18 months in prison and three years probation. Tommasso was not apprehended at the time, and remains a fugitive at large.