Two West Virginia men sentenced for unlawful possession of a firearm, drug charges

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Two men from the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia were sentenced in federal court for unlawfully possessing firearms and possessing pseudoephedrine, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.

Patrick Hauck, 34, of Wellsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 71 months in prison for unlawfully possessing a 7.62 caliber rifle in Brooke County, West Virginia and possessing pseudoephedrine that was to be used to make methamphetamine. He pled guilty to one count of “Felon in Possession of a Firearm” and one count of “Possession of Pseudoephedrine.”

David L. Smith, 41, of Wheeling, West Virginia, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for unlawfully possessing a .45 caliber pistol in Ohio County, West Virginia. He pled guilty to one count of “Felon in Possession of a Firearm.”

Hauck and Smith were both previously convicted of multiple felony offenses in West Virginia and as a result of those convictions, they are both prohibited from possessing firearms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Perri prosecuted the cases on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated both cases. The West Virginia State Police and the Follansbee Police Department assisted in the Hauck investigation.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.