Beckley area woman pleads guilty to heroin distribution

BECKLEY, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Andrea Austin, 42, of Sophia, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to distributing heroin.

Austin admitted that on Aug. 11, 2014, she sold heroin to a confidential informant on East Camellia Street in Sophia.

Austin faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17, 2015.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger presided over the plea hearing.

The Beckley/Raleigh County Drug and Violent Crime Unit is conducting the investigation.

The 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 opiates. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.

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