Drug Defendants, Inmate Appear In Federal Court In Bluefield

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that four defendants convicted of distributing hydromorphone pills to persons cooperating with law enforcement authorities were sentenced in federal court in Bluefield.   Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber sentenced Kevin Eugene Petty, 36, of Bluefield, to eight years in prison.  Petty received an additional sentence of two years for violating the conditions of his previously imposed supervised release.  He pled guilty in September of 2013, admitting that on September 20, 2012, he distributed ten hydromorphone pills at or near Bluefield, West Virginia. 

Jason Robert Davis, 28, of Bluefield, Virginia, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison. He pled guilty in September of 2013, admitting that on January 31, 2012, he distributed five hydromorphone pills. That drug deal took place near Princeton.  Davis also admitted that between 2010 and 2012 he sold a total of 125 hydromorphone pills, 125 oxycodone pills and 25 oxymorphone pills. 

Bobby Michael Short, Jr., 47, of Princeton, was sentenced to one year three months in federal prison.  He pled guilty in November of 2013, admitting that on May 17, 2013, he distributed one hydromorphone pill in Princeton. He also admitted distributing a total of 75 hydromorphone pills. 

Darryl I. Shrader, 54, of Spanishburg, was sentenced to three years of probation.  He pled guilty in November of 2013, admitting that on January 28, 2013, he distributed four hydromorphone pills in Bluefield, West Virginia.  He also admitted distributing eight more hydromorphone pills during January, 2013. 

These cases were investigated by the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Southern West Virginia Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, and were prosecuted under the Bluefield Pill Initiative, 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.

A federal inmate also appeared before Judge Faber.  Billy Williams, 24, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at McDowell, near Welch, pled guilty to possessing a weapon in a federal correctional facility.  Williams admitted that on October 29, 2013, he possessed a homemade knife, commonly known as a “shank,” while he was serving time at the prison.  Williams faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on July 7, 2014.  The investigation was conducted  by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.