1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

 

January 27, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sistersville Man Sentenced for Role in
Large-Scale Methamphetamine Operation

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — A Sistersville, West Virginia, resident was sentenced on January 22, 2009, in United States District Court in Wheeling by Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr., as a result of his role in a large-scale methamphetamine conspiracy centered near Sistersville, Tyler County, West Virginia, that was responsible for bringing methamphetamine to West Virginia from Arizona for distribution.

United States Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that JOHN KELLER, age 53, was sentenced to 37 months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. KELLER entered a plea of guilty on October 30, 2008, to one count of conspiracy to engage in interstate travel to aid in the distribution of methamphetamine beginning in early 2003 to March of 2007. KELLER was the handyman of the organization’s leader, James Snyder, and would bury drugs and money at Snyder’s direction on Snyder’s Sistersville property, assisted in weighing and packaging the methamphetamine and on occasions drove Snyder to collect the drug debts. KELLER, who is free on bond, will self-report to the designated federal institution by February 23, 2009.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force (which consists of officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Wheeling Police Department and the Ohio County Sheriff's Department) with assistance from the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department; the West Virginia State Police; the Ohio Highway Patrol; the Phelps County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Department; the Phoenix, Arizona, Police Department; the Canadian County, Oklahoma, Police Department; the Ashtabula, Ohio, Sheriff’s Department and various Drug Enforcement Administration offices throughout the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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