1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

 

July 27, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wheeling Resident Sentenced to 10+ Years on Drug Charges

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — A 58 year old Wheeling, West Virginia, resident was sentenced today (July 27, 2009) in United States District Court in Wheeling by Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.

United States Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that RAYMOND LEE PRAYEAR was sentenced to a total of 126 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. PRAYEAR entered pleas of guilty on June 5, 2009, to three counts of interstate travel for his role in distributing cocaine and cocaine base in West Virginia after traveling from Ohio with the drugs, acknowledging his involvement in the distribution of almost seven ounces of cocaine. The Court sentenced PRAYEAR to 111 months on the travel charges and an additional 15 months for a violation of the supervised release he was on at the time of the underlying crimes.

The Court ordered the forfeiture of $3,745 seized from defendant on March 25, 2009, and which PRAYEAR admitted was drugs proceeds.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force (which consists of officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Wheeling Police Department and the Ohio County Sheriff's Department) with assistance from the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department; the West Virginia State Police; the Ohio Highway Patrol; the Phelps County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Department; the Phoenix, Arizona, Police Department; the Canadian County, Oklahoma, Police Department; the Ashtabula, Ohio, Sheriff’s Department; and various Drug Enforcement Administration offices throughout the country.