Huntington Man Pleads Guilty to Crack Cocaine Charge

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –  A Huntington man caught last year with cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine, pleaded guilty today.  

According to the plea agreement and statements made in court, Donald Duane Cole, 51, admitted that he was present when agents executed a search warrant at his residence on 9^th Avenue in Huntington on July 29, 2021.  Cole admitted to agents that he was in possession of crack cocaine and agents seized crack cocaine during the search.  Cole admitted that he intended to sell the crack cocaine.  Cole further admitted that he participated with others in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and fentanyl in the Huntington area between April and July 2021. 

Cole pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on May 16, 2022.   

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Southern West Virginia TOC-West Task Force. The Southern West Virginia TOC-West Task Force  consists of the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department, the Hurricane Police Department, and the Marshall University Police Department, with support from the West Virginia State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Violent Crime and Drug Task Force West. 

United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams is handling the prosecution.

The investigation was part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:22-cr-00007.

###