Columbus drug trafficker sentenced to over 10 years in prison

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Columbus man caught with drugs in a Parkersburg hotel room was sentenced today to eight years and four months in federal prison for his conviction at trial and a year and nine months in federal prison for violating his supervised release, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Toby Germaine Person, 40, was convicted by a federal jury on June 23, 2015, of possession with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine, and crack. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

On August 4, 2013, after receiving reports that Person had come from Columbus to sell drugs in Parkersburg, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on his hotel room. Inside the room, officers located heroin, cocaine, crack, digital scales, packaging materials, and other evidence of drug trafficking. Person and his companion, Amanda White, 26, also of Columbus, were arrested. White pleaded guilty in July 2014 to conspiracy charges in Wood County Circuit Court. 

At the time of the offense, Person was serving two concurrent terms of federal supervised release. In February 2008, Person was sentenced in federal court in Columbus to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute crack. In October 2008, Person was sentenced in federal court in Parkersburg to five years and 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute crack. He was released from prison in October 2012.

The Parkersburg Police Department, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, and the West Virginia State Police investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is in charge of the prosecution. United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the sentence.

This case was brought 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 illegal drugs. 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 illegal drugs in communities across the Southern District. 

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