Charleston heroin and crack dealer sentenced to Federal prison for drug crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston man was sentenced today to a year and a half in prison for a federal drug crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Donovan Hardison, 26, previously pleaded guilty in January 2016 to possession with intent to distribute heroin and crack.

Hardison admitted that on May 8, 2015, when he was arrested by agents of the Charleston Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit, he had heroin and crack that he intended to sell concealed in his sock. Hardison also admitted that on several occasions in 2014 and 2015, he sold heroin and crack in the Charleston area to confidential informants working with the Charleston Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit and the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team. Hardison further admitted that he stored heroin, crack, and firearms in his residence on 2nd Avenue in Charleston. 

The investigation was conducted by the Charleston Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, and the West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney John J. Frail is handling the prosecution. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentence.

This case was 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 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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