Huntington Woman Sentenced To 5 Years For Aiding Pill Dealer

Pills, heroin, marijuana, cash, and firearm seized from defendant’s home

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Kristin Michelle Graley was sentenced to five years in federal prison for aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute prescription pills and marijuana.  Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers handed down the sentence. Graley, 31, of Huntington, allowed her co-defendant, Alvester Thomas, 34, of Detroit, Michigan to store drugs at her home located at 3008 Rear 3rd Avenue in Huntington.  During a search of Graley’s home in July of last year, agents with the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force located a kilogram of heroin inside a safe in a bedroom.  Agents also seized 545 oxycodone pills, 73 oxymorphone pills, additional amounts of heroin in the living room, and approximately three pounds of marijuana. Agents also recovered a gun from the kitchen of the home and approximately $17,230 in United States currency.  Thomas admitted that the drugs belonged to him and that he intended to sell them.

Thomas faces 10 years to life imprisonment and a $10,000,000 fine.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2014. 

This case is being prosecuted as 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.  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 in communities across the Southern District.