Three plead guilty in Charleston to federal heroin charges

Charleston, W.Va. – Co-defendants Michael Richard, 30, Cassandra Washington, 24, both of Charleston, and James Harris, 23, of Detroit, Michigan, pled guilty today in federal court in Charleston to their individual roles in the sale of heroin from a home in in Elkview, West Virginia in April of 2014. Richard admitted that on April 10, 2014, he sold heroin to a confidential informant working with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT) in exchange for $120.00.Washington and Harris admitted that when agents of the MDENT executed a search warrant at the Elkview residence a short time after the controlled buy, they were both inside the residence. After seizing additional amounts of heroin, digital scales and the money that law enforcement had used to make undercover buys, Harris admitted he transported the heroin from Detroit with another individual for sale from the Elkview residence by Richard and Washington. Washington also admitted that she intended to sell the heroin provided by Harris. All three face up to twenty years imprisonment and a $1,000,000.00 fine when sentenced on December 10, 2015.

The case was investigated by MDENT.  AUSA John Frail is responsible for the prosecution.

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 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 heroin and pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.