Berkeley County man indicted for fentanyl distribution

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Nicholas Wayne Deminds, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was indicted today on a drug charge, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
 
Deminds, age 30, is charged with one count of “Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl.” Deminds is accused of distributing fentanyl in December 2018 in Berkeley County.

Deminds faces not less than five and up to 40 years incarceration and a fine of up to $5,000,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Lydia Lehman, also with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.

An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.