Upshur County woman sentenced for her role in a methamphetamine distribution operation

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Melissa Ann Masuga, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 12 days incarceration for her participation in a meth distribution operation, United States Attorney William J. Powell announced.

Masuga, age 34, pled guilty to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine” in October 2018. Masuga admitted to conspiring with others to distribute methamphetamine in Upshur County and elsewhere from March 2016 to September 2017.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration;  The Mountain Region Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, composed of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Elkins Police Department, U.S. Forest Service, and Tucker County Sheriff’s Office; the Greater Harrison Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office; the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office; the Buckhannon Police Department; and the Weston Police Department investigated. 

The investigation was funded 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.