FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 5, 2011
LOGAN COUNTY COUPLE SENTENCED ON FEDERAL OXYCODONE CHARGES
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Logan County couple was sentenced today by United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. on federal oxycodone charges. Ada Sparks, 35, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and her husband, Charles Vance, 32, was sentenced to two years in prison for distribution of oxycodone. Both previously pleaded guilty in January.
The defendants admitted that they sold OxyContin pills to a confidential informant working with drug task force agents on several occasions. On June 16, 2009, the defendants sold two 80-milligram OxyContin pills in exchange for $250. The transaction took place near the Fountain Place Mall in Logan. Sparks and Vance further admitted that on June 18, 2009, they sold two 80-milligram OxyContin pills to a confidential informant at a restaurant parking lot located in Logan. Also, on June 29, 2009, the defendants sold two 80-milligram OxyContin pills to a confidential informant in exchange for $200.
The West Virginia State Police and the US 119 Drug and Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney William King handled the prosecution.
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 various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, remain 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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