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Press Release

Charleston dealers sentenced to Federal prison for drug crimes

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two Charleston men were sentenced today to federal prison for drug crimes, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Leon Wilson, Jr., 43, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in federal prison for distribution of heroin. In a separate prosecution, Anton R. Courts, 40, was sentenced to a year and three months in federal prison for distribution of crack and heroin.

Wilson admitted that in May 2015, he sold heroin on three separate occasions to a confidential informant working with law enforcement. The drug deals took place at Wilson’s Charleston apartment. After these drug deals, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at Wilson’s apartment. Officers found over $1,000 cash in Wilson’s possession, which included some of the pre-recorded buy money used in one of the drug deals with the confidential informant.

In a separate drug prosecution, Courts admitted that in April 2015, law enforcement made four controlled purchases of heroin and crack from Courts on the East End of Charleston. On April 22, 2015, detectives arrested Courts after a brief foot chase and found him to be in possession of $1,850 in cash, including $400 in bills used in the controlled purchases. In addition to his prison sentence, Courts was ordered to sell his 2014 Chevrolet Camaro in order to pay a fine of $10,000. Courts admitted paying $28,000 cash for the Camaro in November 2014 while unemployed. This is the second time Courts has been sentenced to federal prison. In May 2006, Courts was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in federal prison following his guilty plea to distribution of crack. His sentenced was later reduced to five years and three months based upon changes to federal sentencing guidelines. 

The investigation of Wilson was conducted by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff’s Tactical Operations Patrol Team. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Boggess was in charge of Wilson’s prosecution. The Charleston Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit conducted the investigation of Courts. Assistant United States Attorney John J. Frail handled the prosecution of Courts. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentences.

These cases were prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat illegal drugs in our communities, including 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 trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and other drugs in communities across the Southern District.

Updated April 20, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking