Wetzel County man sentenced for his role in a drug distribution operation in Wetzel and Tyler Counties

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Wilson Longwell, of Littleton, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 78 months incarceration for his role in a methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin distribution operation that spanned multiple states, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Longwell, age 27, pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute and to Possess with the Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances” in July 2018. Longwell admitted to conspiring with others to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and cocaine base from 2016 to April 2018 in Wetzel County and other locations in the southern district of West Virginia, Ohio, and Georgia.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert H. McWilliams, Jr., and Shawn M. Adkins prosecuted the case 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 in the case. 

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.