FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 25, 2012
FAYETTE COUNTY MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL OXYCODONE CHARGE
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a Fayette County man pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of oxycodone. Phillip E. Adkins, 43, of Hilltop, Fayette County, W.Va., admitted that on Feb. 1, 2012, he illegally sold three 30-milligram oxycodone pills to an individual cooperating with law enforcement authorities.
On September 15, 2011, law enforcement officers seized a firearm, seven 30-milligram oxycodone pills, 111 hydrocodone pills and $1,379 cash from the defendant’s Hilltop residence.
Adkins faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on September 26, 2012 by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.
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.
The West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John File is in charge of the prosecution.
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