Another Detroit Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Distribution In Huntington

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Joey Jamal Braggs, 30, of Detroit, Michigan, pled guilty in federal court in Huntington to a charge of distribution of oxymorphone.  On July 25, 2014, a confidential informant working with law enforcement, contacted Eric Silverstein to arrange the purchase of 10 40-milligram oxymorphone pills.  Silverstein drove the confidential informant to the 1400 block of 4th Avenue in Silverstein's vehicle.   Braggs then met Silverstein and the confidential informant and got into the back seat of Silverstein's car where the drug transaction took place.  Braggs sold the confidential informant 10 oxymorphone pills in exchange for $600.  On July 28, 2014, Braggs made an additional sale of oxymorphone to the confidential informant, with Silverstein again serving as the middle man.  Silverstein has been indicted for his role in the drug conspiracy and is awaiting trial scheduled for November 13, 2014, in federal court in Huntington.

Braggs faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on January 12, 2015.

This case was investigated by the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force.  This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill and heroin trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.