Greenbrier County men plead guilty to federal heroin related charges

Beckley, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that two men pled guilty in federal court in Beckley before United States District Judge Irene C. Berger.  Harry Franklin Huffman II, 25, of Lewisburg, pled guilty to using a phone to facilitate a drug felony, admitting that on September 23, 2014, in Lewisburg, he had a telephone conversation with a confidential informant  to help set up a drug deal.  Shortly after the telephone conversation, Huffman sold heroin to the informant. 

Kip Aaron Sears, 26, from the Lewisburg area, also pled guilty to using a phone to facilitate a drug felony.  Sears admitted that on September 30, 2014, in Lewisburg, he used a telephone to help arrange a drug deal.  After the telephone conversation, Sears sold heroin to an informant.

Both Huffman and Sears face up to four years and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced on July 8, 2015.

These cases were investigated by the Greenbrier Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.  They are part of the Greenbrier Valley Heroin and Pill Initiative, in furtherance 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 and heroin.  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 and heroin in communities across the Southern District.