Berkeley County Man Sentenced for Federal Firearms and Drug Charges

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Austin M. Ferguson, age 28, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison for the distribution of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Ferguson was selling heroin capsules when he flashed a 9mm pistol, removed the firearm magazine, and called the ammunition within the firearm “cop killers.” Officers searched Ferguson’s hotel room and found fentanyl capsules and 47 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Ferguson will be on three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.