Members Of Parkersburg Heroin Ring Enter Federal Guilty Pleas

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two members of a heroin distribution ring operating in Washington County, Ohio and Wood County, West Virginia pleaded guilty today to federal drug charges, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.  Cordaro “Chops” Johnson, 22, and Zinia Wakefield, 27, pleaded guilty to distribution of heroin before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston in Charleston.  Both Johnson and Wakefield admitted selling heroin to an informant in Parkersburg in October of 2013.  They each face up to 20 years in federal prison when they are sentenced on November 18, 2014.

This case is being prosecuted as part of an investigation by the Parkersburg Police Department into a drug trafficking organization with ties to Marion, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois.  Daquarri Coats, 21, of Marion, OH, pleaded guilty in March 2014.  Keith Irons, 23, of Marion, OH and Marion Felder, 30, of Upper Sandusky, OH pleaded guilty in May of 2014.

Assistant United States Attorney, Joshua C. Hanks is in charge of the prosecution.

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 pills 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 heroin and pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.