Federal inmate sentenced for possessing a weapon

efield, W.Va. –United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a federal inmate was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber in Bluefield.  Rico Joy, 34, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for possession of contraband by an inmate.  Joy pled guilty in July of 2015, admitting that on April 21, 2015, he had a handcrafted weapon known as a “shank” while he was serving a sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution at McDowell.  The sentence imposed by Judge Faber will run consecutively to the 240-month sentence Joy is serving for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John File.