Rand heroin dealer pleads guilty to Federal drug crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Rand drug dealer pleaded guilty today to a federal heroin crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Marcus Manchion, 27, entered his guilty plea in federal court to distribution of heroin. 

Manchion admitted that on March 3, 2015, he sold heroin to a confidential informant working with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. The drug deal took place on the 5000 block of Church Drive in Rand. Manchion also admitted to selling heroin to a confidential informant on three other occasions in March of 2015. On April 16, 2015, officers executed a search warrant on Manchion’s house in Rand and recovered over 80 grams of heroin and a Glock Model 37 pistol. 

Manchion faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $1 million when he is sentenced on April 28, 2016.

The case was investigated by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman is in charge of the prosecution. The hearing was held before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.

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 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. 

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