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June 10, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Three Eastern Panhandle Residents Enter Guilty Pleas

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — Three Eastern Panhandle residents entered guilty pleas on June 2 and 6, 2011, in United States District Court in the Northern District of West Virginia in Martinsburg before Magistrate Judge David J. Joel.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that:

EDWARD HARDY LIGHT, JR., age 41, of Martinsburg, entered a plea of guilty to one count of an Indictment charging him with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on March 4, 2010. LIGHT, who is in custody, faces a penalty of five years to life imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul T. Camilletti. The case was investigated by the West Virginia States Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.

DERICK W. MARKLEY, age 27, of Martinsburg, entered a plea of guilty to one count of an Indictment charging him with the distribution of cocaine on December 12, 2007, in Martinsburg. MARKLEY, who is in custody, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $1,000,000. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas O. Mucklow. The case was investigation by the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crime Task Force. The Task Force consists of officers from the West Virginia State Police - Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Martinsburg Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.

STEPHEN KENT SLONE, age 47, of Bunker Hill, West Virginia, entered a plea of guilty to one count of an Indictment charging him with bank robbery of City National Bank in Inwood, West Virginia, on January 28, 2011. SLONE, who is in custody, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul T. Camilletti. The case was investigated by the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.