Charleston man pleads guilty in federal court to heroin crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Charleston man pleaded guilty today to a federal heroin crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Thomas Jarrell, 20, entered his guilty plea in federal court to possession with intent to distribute heroin. 

Jarrell admitted that on October 1, 2015, at his Georges Creek residence in Malden, he possessed heroin that he intended to distribute. Agents of the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team seized the drugs during the execution of a search warrant at Jarrell’s home.

Jarrell faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on May 4, 2016.

The investigation of Jarrell was conducted by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney John J. Frail is handling the prosecution. The hearing was held before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.

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 trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.