FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 20, 2012
DETROIT MAN SENTENCED TO ALMOST SIX YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR HEROIN DISTRIBUTION
HUNTINGTON, WV – U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin today announced that a Detroit man was sentenced to five years and eleven months in federal prison for distributing heroin. Deon Powell, 42, also known as “Archie Powell,” previously pleaded guilty in April. Powell admitted that in June 2011, he sold $200 worth of heroin to a confidential informant working with the Huntington Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at a Huntington residence where Powell was residing at the time and found 10.5 grams of crack cocaine, one gram of cocaine, 45.769 grams of heroin, 16 alprazolam pills, and 24 oxymorphone pills. Agents seized $19,020 from an automobile parked inside the garage, a firearm inside the residence, and nearly $4,000 also inside the residence.
This case was 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.
The Huntington Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman handled the prosecution. The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.
