Princeton Woman Sentenced To Federal Prison For Distributing Hydromorphone Pills

BLUEFIED, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that Kristi Ball, 39, of Princeton, West Virginia was sentenced in federal court in Bluefield today to 13 months in prison for distributing hydromorphone, an addictive prescription medicine.  Ball previously pled guilty in February of 2014, admitting that on January 16, 2013, she sold hydromorphone pills in Princeton to an informant working with law enforcement.  The judge also took into consideration Ball’s admission that over a period of time she distributed 170 hydromorphone pills. 

The case was investigated by the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, and the prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney John File.  This case was prosecuted under the Bluefield Pill Initiative, and was 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 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 opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.