Huntington woman pleads guilty to federal heroin conspiracy

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Huntington woman involved with others in distributing heroin in 2016 pleaded guilty today to a federal drug charge, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Tonya Lynn Thompson, 44, entered her guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute heroin.

From the summer of 2016 to September of 2016, Thompson admitted that she participated in the conspiracy to distribute heroin in the Huntington area. During this time period, Thompson and another individual received heroin on consignment. Thompson and others would then distribute the heroin and return the proceeds back to the heroin source.  

On September 5, 2016, a deputy with the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department seized $6,407 in cash from Thompson and another individual during a traffic stop on U.S. Route 60 in Huntington after law enforcement received information they would be delivering money that day. Thompson admitted that this money was proceeds from drug trafficking and that they were delivering the cash back to the heroin source. Thompson further admitted that she and others were responsible for distributing up to 400 grams of heroin during her involvement in the conspiracy.

Thompson faces up to 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced on August 7, 2017.

The Huntington FBI Drug Task Force and the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams is handling the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.

This prosecution is 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 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.

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