Wheeling man sentenced for cocaine trafficking

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Cornelius Johnson, Jr., 38, of Wheeling, was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for cocaine trafficking, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced today.

Johnson repeatedly sold crack cocaine throughout 2014 in Ohio County, West Virginia. Specifically, he sold cocaine on multiple occasions near Wilson Playground in Wheeling. He pled guilty in June 2015 to:

• Four counts of “Use of a Telephone to Facilitate the Distribution of Cocaine Base,”
• Four counts of “Distribution of Cocaine Base within 1,000 Feet of a Protected Location,”
• One count of “Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises,” and
• One count of “Felon in Possession of a Firearm.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Vogrin prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Ohio Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. presided.