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May 18, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Charles Town Resident Entered Guilty Plea to Drug Charge

Traded Firearm Involved in Accidental Shooting

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 24 year old Charles Town, West Virginia, resident entered a plea of guilty on May 16, 2011, in United States District Court in Martinsburg before Magistrate Judge David J. Joel.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that GARY LEE WINSTON entered a plea of guilty to one count of an Indictment charging him with trading cocaine base and $100 in exchange for a Hi-Point .45 pistol with obliterated serial number in March 2010.

Evidence presented at the plea hearing showed that WINSTON later left the pistol at his brother’s home, where it was used in an accidental shooting that resulted in death.

WINSTON, who is in custody, faces a maximum penalty of five years to life imprisonment to be followed by $250,000.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul T. Camilletti. The case was investigated by the Martinsburg Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.