FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 14, 2011
KANAWHA COUNTY MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO OXYCODONE DISTRIBUTION CHARGE
CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Rashid Omari Kent, 28, of Dunbar, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today in federal court before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. to distribution oxycodone. Kent admitted that on August 25, 2011, he sold five 30-milligram oxycodone tablets to an informant working for the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT). The transaction occurred at the defendant’s Dunbar residence. Kent was subsequently arrested and found to be in possession of 23 30-milligram oxycodone tablets, 51 alprazolam tablets and one 20-milligram oxymorphone tablets.
Kent faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on December 20, 2011.
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 Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT) conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is in charge of the prosecution.
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