Tyler County man sentenced for connection to a drug distribution operation in Wetzel and Tyler Counties

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Joshua Cathers, of Sistersville, was sentenced today to 15 months incarceration for his involvement in methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin distribution that spanned multiple states, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Cathers, age 39, pled guilty to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine” in August 2018. Cathers admitted selling methamphetamine in November 2017 in Tyler County. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert H. McWilliams, Jr., and Shawn M. Adkins prosecuted the cases on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Marshall County Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office; the Wetzel County Sheriff’s Office; the Sistersville Police Department; the Paden City Police Department; and the New Martinsville Police Department investigated. The Columbus, Ohio, Police Department Gang Crimes Unit 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 John Preston Bailey presided.