Beckley man pleads guilty to using phone to commit felony

BECKLEY, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Richard Pfost, 32, of Beckley, pleaded guilty to using a telephone to commit a felony.

Pfost admitted that on Aug. 12, 2014, he used a telephone in the Beckley area to arrange a sale of oxycodone to a confidential informant.

Pfost faces up to four years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24, 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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