Detroit man pleads guilty to distributing pain pills

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Detroit man caught selling oxycodone in March 2017 pleaded guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Lurduea Appling, 37, entered his guilty plea to distribution of oxycodone.

On March 20, 2017, agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) in Ona used a confidential informant to make a controlled buy of oxycodone from Appling. The drug deal took place at 1342 15th Street in Huntington. Appling provided the informant with oxycodone in exchange for $3,750 in cash. As part of the plea agreement, Appling admitted to all the drug trafficking activity charged in the indictment. 

Appling faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on January 16, 2018.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the West Virginia State Police BCI in Ona conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie S. Taylor is handling the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.

This 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. 

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