Wheeling woman sentenced to five years for cocaine trafficking

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Rebecca Mae Blake, age 41, of Wheeling, West Virginia, was sentenced today to five years in federal prison for cocaine distribution.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Blake sold crack cocaine from her home on Fulton Street in Wheeling. Blake pled guilty to the charge earlier this year in connection to a larger drug operation in Ohio County led by Rocco Pandoli, also of Wheeling.

Blake has multiple prior felony drug convictions, to include a conviction in federal court for cocaine distribution in 2005, and three convictions in Ohio County (W.Va.) Circuit Court in 2017, also for cocaine distribution.

Pandoli was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to 51 months in prison.

The Ohio Valley Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. This effort was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Nogay prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.