Monongalia County man sentenced for role in a drug distribution operation in Monongalia County

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Daniel Payne, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day incarceration for his involvement in a heroin, oxycodone, and cocaine distribution operation, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
 
Payne, age 34, pled guilty to one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Heroin” in February 2019. Payne admitted to selling heroin in July 2017 in Monongalia County. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Mon Metro Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. The United States Marshal Service assisted.

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 Thomas S. Kleeh presided.