Parkersburg Woman Who Aided Heroin And Cocaine Dealer Enters Federal Guilty Plea

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Parkersburg woman who disposed of heroin and cocaine at the direction of a drug dealer in October 2013 pleaded guilty today to a federal drug charge, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.  Gerri Raye Parker, 30, pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to using a communication facility to facilitate heroin and cocaine trafficking.

On October 24, 2013, Parker received a call on her cell phone from a person she knew was a heroin and cocaine dealer. The drug dealer told her that the police were coming to search her apartment and that she needed to get rid of a bag that contained drugs and drug paraphernalia that he had hidden in the apartment.  Parker put the bag in an outside trash can of a nearby vacant apartment so the drug dealer could pick it up. Police officers conducting surveillance on Parker’s residence watched her dispose of the bag and seized it before the drug dealer could retrieve it.  The bag contained heroin, cocaine, and other drug paraphernalia.

Parker faces up to 4 years in federal prison when she is sentenced on February 2, 2015.

This case arose from the investigation of a heroin trafficking ring from Marion, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois.  Other individuals prosecuted and convicted in federal court as a part of this investigation include Mario Felder, Keith Irons, Cordaro Johnson, Zena Wakefield, and Daquarri Coates.

The Parkersburg Police Department along with the Parkersburg Narcotics and Violent Crimes Task Force conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is in charge of the prosecution.

This case was brought 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 heroin and 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 opiates and heroin in communities across the Southern District.