Maryland Woman Admits to Role in Drug Trafficking Operation

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – A Cumberland, Maryland woman has admitted to her role in a drug trafficking operation from Maryland to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced.

Alyssa Ellen Hockenberry, 23, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. According to court documents and statements made in court, Hockenberry was one of the suppliers and distributors of controlled substances, illegally distributed in Mineral County, West Virginia and elsewhere.

Hockenberry faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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

Investigative agencies include the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Maryland State Police; the Hagerstown Police Department (MD); and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (MD).

Fentanyl has been designated by President Donald Trump as a weapon of mass destruction due to its extreme lethality which poses a grave threat to public safety, even in trace amounts. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Trumble presided.