Charleston woman pleads guilty to federal heroin charge

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston heroin dealer pleaded guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Tara Shepherd, 26, entered her guilty plea to distribution of heroin.

Shepherd admitted that on August 26, 2016, she sold heroin a confidential informant working with Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team. The drug deal took place at her apartment on Washington Avenue in Charleston.

Shepherd faces up to 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced on June 26, 2017.

The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman is in charge of the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.

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.

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