Mineral County man sentenced for role in a drug distribution operation

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Nathan E. Carpenter, of Elk Garden, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 234 months incarceration for his involvement in a drug distribution conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Carpenter, age 29, pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine” in April 2019. Carpenter admitted to working with others to distribute methamphetamine from August 2017 to June 2018 in Mineral, Hardy, and Hampshire Counties and elsewhere.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, The West Virginia State Police, and the Potomac Highlands Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force 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.

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