Berkeley County woman sentenced for role in drug conspiracy

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Ashley Marie Seal, of Bunker Hill, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 21 months of incarceration for her role in a drug conspiracy that spanned several states, Acting United States Attorney Randolph J. Bernard announced.

Seal, 32, pled guilty in November 2020 to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Heroin, Fentanyl, and Cocaine Base.” Seal admitted to working with others to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base from January 2019 to September 2019 in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties and elsewhere.

This case is the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) under the Attorney General-led Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS)/Special Operations Division (SOD) Project Clean Sweep.  This initiative seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids in “hot spot” areas previously identified by the Attorney General of the United States, thereby reducing drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths, and identify wholesale distribution networks and sources of supply operating nationally and internationally. 

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Lydia Lehman, also with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. 
 
Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.