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

January 21, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairmont Resident Indicted on Marijuana Charge
by a Federal Grand Jury in Martinsburg

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 23 year old Fairmont, West Virginia, resident was named in an Indictment returned on January 19, 2011, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that DAVID F. HITCHNER, III, was named in a one-count Indictment. The Indictment alleges that HITCHNER conspired to distribute marijuana from early June of 2010 to June 26, 2010, in Fairmont.

If convicted, HITCHNER faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Three Rivers Drug Task Force, consisting of officers from the Fairmont Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.