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December 14, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Another Saunders’ Co-Conspirator Sentenced

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA - Another co-conspirator of Robert “R.J.” Saunders was sentenced in United States District Court in Wheeling on December 13, 2010, by Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that: STACEY DAWN MINTER, age 38, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release, for her role in Saunders’ cocaine and marijuana distribution organization. MINTER, who entered a plea of guilty on July 6, 2010, to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments by conducting financial transactions with the proceeds of her unlawful activity, that is the distribution of cocaine and marijuana, knowing the property involved in the financial transaction represented the proceeds of the unlawful activity, becomes the fifth defendant to be sentenced to date. MINTER and her co-defendant Jennifer Sorg conducted multiple financial transactions beginning in December of 2005 up through November of 2006, by laundering checks made out to “cash” by endorsing and cashing the checks which were payment for the purchase of drugs. MINTER conducted multiple such financial transactions beginning in December, 2005, up through September, 2006, with checks for as much as $2,500 for a total of $21,000. The investigation revealed that MINTER was aware the source of the funds was from cocaine and marijuana sales as she was not only present during several of Saunders’ transactions, but personally distributed cocaine and marijuana on some occasions. As part of her plea, MINTER admitted the checks she laundered were proceeds from the sale of 650 grams of cocaine and 200 grams of marijuana.

MINTER, who is free on bond, will self-report to the designated Federal institution on January 13, 2011.

Saunders pled guilty on August 12, 2010, to one count of an Indictment charging him with the conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and a quantity of marijuana from at least January of 2005 to August 28, 2009, in the Northern District of West Virginia and elsewhere and was sentenced on November 30, 2010, to 78 months imprisonment.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crime Task Force. The Task Force consists of officers from the Wheeling Police Department, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.