Charleston heroin dealer pleads guilty to federal charge

Charleston, W.Va. –  United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that Michael Ealm, 36, of Charleston, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Charleston to distribution of heroin.  On three occasions in January, February, and March of 2015, Ealm sold heroin to an individual working as a confidential informant for the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT). On March 4, 2015, MDENT officers executed a search warrant at Ealm’s residence in Charleston. When the officers entered the residence, Ealm was trying to flush some of the heroin down the toilet. Officers recovered additional heroin from the residence, and Ealm gave a statement admitting that he had been selling heroin in the Charleston area since January of 2015.

Ealm faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on December 7, 2015. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. is presiding over the case. MDENT conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Haley Bunn is responsible for the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.