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Press Release

Detroit heroin dealer pleads guilty to Federal drug crime

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Detroit drug dealer pleaded guilty today to a federal heroin crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Jason Matthew Brown, 35, entered his guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute heroin.

Brown admitted that on January 24, 2015, he was traveling with Justin Randolph from Detroit to Charleston with approximately 100 grams of heroin that Brown and Randolph intended to sell. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department stopped the vehicle and located the heroin, which was hidden in a spare tire in the trunk and wrapped in black tape. Brown further admitted that he had been responsible for bringing up to 1000 grams of heroin from Detroit for distribution in the Rand area of Kanawha County.

Brown faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on August 31, 2016. Justin Randolph, of Rand, previously pleaded guilty to distribution of heroin and faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 22, 2016.

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

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

Updated May 25, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking