Mercer County Man Pleads Guilty To Selling Prescription Pain Pills

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Jimmy Dale Wright, 56, of Rock, West Virginia, pled guilty in federal court in Bluefield to distributing hydromorphone, a powerful and addictive prescription pain medication.  Wright admitted that in August of 2013, he sold pills to a person who was cooperating with law enforcement authorities.  The drug deal took place on Pocosin Fork Road in Lashmeet, Mercer County, West Virginia.

Wright faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.  Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber scheduled the sentencing for August 25, 2014.

The West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation. 

This case was 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 and heroin.  The United States 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.