Task force nabs drug suspects: Six subjects arrested as part of DMI program

BLUEFIELD — The Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, working in conjunction with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, and the city police departments of Princeton and Bluefield and the West Virginia State Police made six arrests this week as part of U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin’s DMI (Drug Market Intervention) program. The indictments that were unsealed on Thursday marked the second DMI sweep since Goodwin visited Mercer County to announce the initiative.

Federal authorities unsealed six indictments related to drug charges in the Princeton area that were investigated from February through July. Five of the suspects appeared in court on Tuesday, but the court continued the initial appearance for the sixth subject until Oct. 25. U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort tentatively scheduled at least some of the preliminary and detention hearings for Sept. 30.

The subjects arrested on Tuesday including Katie Slaughter, 23, Paul Hoston, 46, Sheila Smith, 47, Thomas Sheppheard, 34, and Regina Frye, 41, all of Princeton, had initial appearances at U.S. District Court in Bluefield. Roy Sharpless, 45, of Charleston is currently in state custody. He is scheduled to have his initial appearance on Oct. 25.

“Booth Goodwin, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia is really working with us,” Mercer County Sheriff D.B. “Don” Meadows said. “We have good relations with his office. Any time he has a meeting in Charleston, he makes sure we know in plenty of time for us to be able to make arrangements to attend. The cooperation’s there and our task force is doing an excellent job. The federal cases aren’t the only arrests we’re making as part of this initiative, but we work well with the federal authorities.”

Bluefield Police Chief J.W. “Joe” Wilson said that the arrests on Tuesday represented another step in Goodwin’s DMI program. “These aren’t the biggest dealers out there on the streets,” Wilson said. “We’re still conducting investigations in the region. But this is all part of the initiative.” The charges contained in the indictments range from distribution of hydromorphone, cocaine base and oxycodone.

Slaughter is named in a one-count indictment alleging that on July 7, she distributed a quantity of hydromorphone. Sharpless is named in a 5-count indictment alleging that he distributed cocaine base, also known as crack, on June 23 (twice) July 12 (twice) and July 26. Hoston is named in a 4-count federal indictment alleging that he distributed hydromorphone on Feb. 7, Feb. 8 (twice) and Feb. 9.

Smith is named in a 4-count indictment alleging that she distributed a quantity of Oxycodone on April 22, April 23 , May 2 and May 19.

Sheppheard is named in a 3-count indictment alleging that he distributed hydromorphone on April 12, April 29, and on May 5.

Frye is named in a 5-count indictment alleging that she distributed hydromorphone on May 25 (twice), June 14, and on July 7 (twice). Assistant U.S. Attorney Miller A. Bushong III presented all six cases to the federal grand jury in Beckley that returned the indictments on Sept. 20.

“These arrests came as a direct result of the citizens’ outrage over the young man who was killed during a home invasion crime last January,” Sgt. J. Centeno of the West Virginia State Police said. Centeno is the head of the Southern West Virginia Drug & Violent Crime Task Force. “The U.S. Attorney vowed to attack the problem in response to the outrage.

“We’re trying to bring at least 10 new cases to each new grand jury,” Centeno said. “The ones were getting now might not be the big drug dealers, but they’re causing problems in the Princeton, Bluefield and Mercer County area.

“Sheriff Don Meadows, Bill Harman (of the Princeton Police Department) and Joe Wilson have each assigned detectives to the task force and the State Police has assigned another officer to work in this area,” Centeno said.

“Sgt. John Pauley and Sgt. Doug Miller have also made a major commitment to this initiative.”

Centeno said in addition to the increased number of cases the task force is presenting to the federal grand jury, law enforcement officials are making presentations at schools and at civic organizations. “We are trying to educate a lot of people,” he said. “We can’t just prosecute these crimes. We have to educate people and prevent them.

“When U.S. Attorney Goodwin was down here, he emphasized the need for education, prevention, law enforcement and rehabilitation,” he said. “We still working to build cases on the big guys, but with this approach of presenting cases to the grand jury for any amount of illegal drugs we catch, we are directly attacking these home invasion and murder cases.”

Centeno noted that four of the suspects arrested in the initial round of DMI arrests pleaded guilty to the charges on Sept. 19, a day before the second round of indictments went out. Senior Status U.S. District Judge David A. Faber of the Southern District of West Virginia scheduled sentencing hearings on Jan. 23, 2012, for Viney Stables, 32 of Montcalm, at 10:30 a.m., Roger Lee Stables, 44, of Montcalm, at 11 a.m., Chantay Greene, 31, of Bluefield at 1:30 p.m., and Steven W. Carter, 44, of Beeson, at 2 p.m. Faber continued Brett Bowyer’s plea haring for 10 a.m., on Oct. 3, in Bluefield.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Site Map

Contact Us