Federal Inmate Sentenced For Possessing A Shank

Beckley, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a federal inmate pled guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Beckley for possessing a dangerous weapon.  Desmel Cooper, 32, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Beckley, admitted that on July 1, 2014 he possessed a shank, a handcrafted prison weapon, at the prison.  United States Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort sentenced Cooper to one year in prison, to be served consecutively to the sentence he is now serving.    The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John File.