FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 13, 2012
CHARLESTON MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL OXYCODONE DISTRIBUTION CHARGE
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a Charleston man pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of oxycodone. Michael Spencer Thompson, 48, admitted that on September 23, 2011, he sold five 30-milligram oxycodone pills to a confidential informant working with the U.S. 119 Task Force. Thompson further admitted that on September 29, 2011, he sold five 30-milligram oxycodone pills to an informant working with the U.S. 119 Task Force. Both of the illegal pill transactions occurred near Danville, Boone County, W.Va.
The defendant also admitted that on September 26, 2012, he sold approximately 28.6 grams of marijuana to an informant working with the U.S. 119 Task Force.
On January 20, 2012, law enforcement officers arrested the defendant at his residence on Oakwood Road in Charleston. Officers executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence and seized approximately 723 1-milligram tablets of the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam and 66 60-milligram tablets of morphine that the defendant admitted he intended to sell.
Thompson faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on December 3, 2012 by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.
The U.S. 119 Task Force and the Charleston Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is in charge of the prosecution.
This case is being prosecuted 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. 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 in communities across the Southern District.
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