Federal Guilty Plea From Landlord Who Accepted Drugs As Rent Payments

Jerry Lowe rented apartment to Huntington pair now serving federal prison sentences for drug felonies

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a Huntington landlord pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of a quantity oxycodone.  Jerry A. Lowe, 46, admitted that on March 16, 2012, he sold three 30-milligram oxycodone tablets in exchange for $90.  Lowe also admitted to receiving an additional $210 from a prior drug-related debt.  Lowe was the former landlord of convicted felons Rafael Cee-Erwin Solomon, 31, of Detroit and Shawna Danielle Lee, 26, of Huntington. 

Lowe admitted that he typically received heroin or prescription painkillers from Solomon and Lee as payment for monthly rent expenses.  Lowe also admitted that he purchased oxycodone pills from another individual who lived at the Highlawn Avenue residence at the time. 

Solomon was previously sentenced in December to 11 years and three months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, oxycodone, and oxymorphone.  Solomon’s co-defendant Lee, was also previously sentenced in September 2012 to one year and six months in federal prison for maintaining a residence for the purpose of distributing crack cocaine, cocaine, oxycodone and oxymorphone

On June 13, 2012, law enforcement officers conducted a traffic stop of the defendant’s vehicle.  During the stop, officers found the defendant in possession of 1.1 grams of heroin. 

Lowe faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on June 24, 2013 by Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers. 

The Huntington Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Gregory McVey is in charge of the prosecution. 

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.