Lewisburg men get federal prison time in heroin cases

BECKLEY, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that United States District Judge Irene C. Berger sentenced two Lewisburg men to federal prison in heroin cases today. The sentences were handed down in Beckley.

Harry Franklin Huffman II, 26, was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment for use of a communication facility to facilitate a felony. Huffman pleaded guilty in March, admitting that on September 23, 2014, he used a telephone in Lewisburg to help set up a drug transaction with a confidential informant. Shortly after that phone conversation, Huffman distributed heroin to the informant.

Kip Aaron Sears, 26, was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for use of a communication facility to facilitate a felony. Sears also pleaded guilty in March. He admitted that on September 30, 2014, he used a telephone in Lewisburg to set up a drug transaction with an informant. Later that day Sears met with the informant and distributed a quantity of heroin.

These cases were prosecuted under the Greenbrier Valley Heroin and Pill Initiative, part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the sale of heroin and 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 the spread of heroin and opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District. Assistant United States Attorney John File prosecuted these cases.