Charleston Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Heroin and Gun Crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston man caught selling heroin in January 2017 pled guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Dana Stevenson, 27, entered his guilty plea to an indictment charging him with distribution of heroin and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

“It’s Groundhog Day all over again,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “We wake up and issue a press release about a felon with a firearm.  But this isn’t Groundhog Day, it’s just another felon with a firearm who also deals drugs.”

On January 4, 2017, agents with the ATF and the Charleston Police Department Special Enforcement Unit used a confidential informant to make a controlled buy of heroin from the defendant.  The buy occurred in the vicinity of the Kentucky Fried Chicken near Washington Street in Charleston.  The defendant provided the informant with suspected heroin.

Stevenson also pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.  On January 18, 2017, officers conducted a search warrant at his residence and recovered a Glock .40 caliber firearm.  Stevenson was prohibited from possessing any firearm under federal law because he had been convicted in 2014 in Kanawha County, West Virginia for wanton endangerment.

Stevenson faces up to 30 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on September 6, 2018.

The plea hearing was held before Judge Goodwin.  Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie S. Taylor prosecuted the case.

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

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

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