Operation Mountaineer Highway Update: New Jersey Man Sentenced for Federal Drug Crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A New Jersey man was sentenced to federal prison for his participation in a drug trafficking organization, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  James Terry, 38, was sentenced to 92 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.    Stuart commended the cooperative investigative efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Central West Virginia Drug Task Force, with the support of the West Virginia State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, the Beckley/Raleigh County Drug Task Force, the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, the Fayetteville Police Department, and the Oak Hill Police Department. 

“Terry was a major oxycodone dealer,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “The day we took Terry and his co-conspirators off the streets was a great day for the citizens of Fayette County.”

At his plea hearing in July, Terry previously admitted that between October 2017 and September 2018, he worked with other members of a drug trafficking organization operating between Fayette County, West Virginia and New Jersey to distribute oxycodone pills.  It was established that on May 31, 2018, Terry distributed over 500 oxycodone pills to another member of the drug trafficking organization in Fayette County, West Virginia.  Terry obtained the oxycodone tablets in New Jersey and transported them to West Virginia.  It was further established that on June 20, 2018 he was driving a car again transporting oxycodone pills from New Jersey to West Virginia.  It was the plan to deliver the pills to the same member of the drug trafficking organization in West Virginia to be redistributed and sold illegally in the Southern District of West Virginia for profit.  Prior to delivering the pills to West Virginia, the car Terry was driving was stopped by the Pennsylvania State Police.  During the traffic stop, approximately 997 oxycodone pills were recovered.  The pills were hidden in a secret compartment, commonly referred to as a trap.    The prosecution of Terry culminated from a joint investigation conducted by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies known as Mountaineer Highway. 

Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy D. Boggess and Andrew J. Tessman handled the prosecution. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence.

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