FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 31, 2011
LINCOLN COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON ON FEDERAL OXYCODONE CHARGES
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Kerrick Lewis McCann, 49, of Harts, Lincoln County, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 87 months in prison by United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. McCann admitted that he participated with other known individuals in an oxycodone distribution scheme from the spring of 2007 through April 2010. The defendant admitted that on August 28, 2008, he distributed 15 30-milligram oxycodone tablets to an undercover informant working for the West Virginia Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI). McCann further admitted that on September 8, 2008, he directed an associate to distribute six 80-milligram oxycodone tablets to an undercover officer working for the BCI. The following day, the defendant sold two oxycodone 80-milligram tablets to an informant near his residence in Harts. On September 15, 2008, an undercover officer working for BCI called the defendant to arrange a purchase of oxycodone. The defendant admitted that he stated that an associate would hold seven 80-milligram oxycodone tablets for the officer. A short time later, the officer purchased 6 ½ oxycodone tablets (80mg each) from the defendant’s associate. Also, McCann admitted that on April 24, 2010, he sold one-half of an oxycodone tablet to an informant working for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. On the same day, law enforcement officers returned to McCann’s residence with a search warrant and subsequently seized 7 ½ 80-milligram oxycodone tablets and $2,717 from the defendant’s wallet.
This case was investigated by the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations, US 119 Task Force and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks 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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