Three Lincoln County Men Sentenced For Oxycodone Trafficking

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Joseph James Salmons was sentenced to two years in federal prison and two other men, Richard A. Mullins and John Freddie Joe Johnson, were sentenced to three years’ probation on charges relating to the distribution of oxycodone in Lincoln County. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentences.

Salmons, 24, of Hamlin, previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the distribution of oxycodone, admitting that on February 13, 2013, he and Mullins sold a confidential information five 30 mg oxycodone pills. Salmons also admitted to other drug sales in Lincoln County.

Mullins, 49, of West Hamlin, previously pleaded guilty to distributing oxycodone. Mullins admitted that on January 13, 2013, he sold 5 30 mg oxycodone pills to a confidential informant working with law enforcement. Mullins met the informant in the parking lot of the Blossom Junction flower shop in West Hamlin and conducted the drug deal from his car. Mullins also admitted during his plea hearing to other drug sales in Lincoln County.

Johnson, 37, also of West Hamlin, previously pleaded guilty to assisting Mullins and Salmons in selling oxycodone to a confidential informant outside of Johnson’s residence in West Hamlin, Lincoln County, in February 2013.

The Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman was in charge of the prosecution.

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 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.