Hancock County man sentenced for his role in a drug conspiracy

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Antonio Dewayne Brown, of Weirton, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 45 months of incarceration for his role in a cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl distribution operation, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Brown, age 36, pled guilty to one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Cocaine Base” in February 2020. Brown admitted to working with others to distribute cocaine base, also known as “crack,” in August 2018 in Hancock County.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danae DeMasi-Lemon and Robert H. McWilliams, Jr. prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Marshall County Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; The Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the Jefferson County, Ohio, Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force; the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office; the Brooke County Sheriff’s Office; the Weirton Police Department; and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Police investigated. 

The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy.  Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.