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Press Release

Two drug dealers appear in Federal court for heroin crimes

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two heroin dealers appeared today in federal court on drug charges, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Gavin Edwards, 32, of South Charleston, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for distribution of heroin. Edwards was also sentenced today to a year in federal prison for violating his supervised release after he served a prison sentence for a 2008 felony drug conviction in federal court. The sentences were ordered to be served consecutively. In a separate prosecution, Justin Randolph, 27, of Charleston, pleaded guilty to distribution of heroin.

Edwards admitted that on December 8, 2014, he sold approximately half a gram of heroin to a confidential informant working with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team. Edwards completed the drug deal in the parking lot behind his apartment at 4832 Kanawha Turnpike Avenue in South Charleston. Edwards further admitted that on December 10, 2014, he sold the same confidential informant approximately 1.6 grams of heroin. On December 16, 2014, law enforcement executed a search warrant for the apartment and located over 250 grams of marijuana, over 250 grams of crack, and approximately $5,930 in cash. During the search, law enforcement also recovered an additional $1,569 in cash that Edwards had in his pockets.

In a separate heroin prosecution, Randolph admitted that on January 15, 2015, he sold heroin to a confidential informant working with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. The drug deal took place in the parking lot of the Dunbar Kroger. Randolph faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on June 22, 2016.

The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team investigated the Edwards case. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman is in charge of the prosecution. Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber imposed the sentence.

The investigation of Randolph was conducted by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney John J. Frail is handling the prosecution. Randolph’s plea hearing was held before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.

These cases were 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 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.

Updated March 22, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking