Hardy County man sentenced for methamphetamine distribution

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Larry Allen Lyons, of Moorefield, West Virginia, was sentenced today to five years’ probation, with the first three months incarceration, for methamphetamine distribution, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.
 
Lyons, age 55, pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine” in January 2020. Lyons admitted to working with others to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine from March 2018 to May 2018 in Mineral, Grant, and Randolph Counties.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Potomac Highlands Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; and the Ravenswood Police Department investigated.

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location.  This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks.  These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime.  

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