Braxton County man sentenced for firearms and drug charges

ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA – Charles William Masters, of Burnsville, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 101 months incarceration for firearms and drug charges, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Masters, age 44, pled guilty to one count of “Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine,” and one count of “Carry a Firearm During a Drug Trafficking Crime” in April 2018. Masters admitted to illegally possessing a 9mm pistol while possessing methamphetamine on July 3, 2017 in Lewis County, West Virginia. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). Project Safe Neighborhoods is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office investigated.

The investigation was funded in part 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.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.