Detroit Man Sentenced To 5+ Years In Heroin Conspiracy

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Detroit man involved in a heroin distribution scheme was sentenced today to 63 months in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.  Bobby Nelson Gulley, 38, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin.  Gulley admitted that he conspired with others, including Helen Louise Adkins and Alanna Lynn Mattison, to distribute heroin in the Huntington area from at least January 2013 to August 15, 2013. 

During the conspiracy, Gulley frequently transported heroin and oxycodone from Detroit to Huntington.  Gulley recruited Adkins and Mattison to maintain separate apartments at 522 14th Street West in Huntington where heroin and oxycodone were stored.  Gulley also used Adkins and Mattison to make distributions of heroin on his behalf.  Beginning in January 2013, agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration used a confidential informant to make several controlled purchases of heroin from Gulley, Adkins and Mattison at various locations in West Huntington.  On August 15, 2013, agents executed search warrants at the 14th Street West apartments rented by Adkins and Mattison.  During the search, agents seized over 140 grams of heroin, 974 oxycodone tablets and $12,000 in United States currency.

Adkins and Mattison previously pleaded guilty in January 2014 and are both set to be sentenced on June 9, 2014, in Huntington.  

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Huntington Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams handled the prosecution. Today’s sentence was imposed by Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.

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.  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 in communities across the Southern District.