BLUEFIELD, W.Va. - United States Attorney Booth Goodwin today announced federal sentences for an inmate caught with drugs in federal prison and a Bluefield woman who illegally possessed a powerful prescription painkiller. Boris Bynum, 34, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at McDowell, was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of marijuana by an inmate. Bynum pleaded guilty in September, admitting that on June 15, 2013, he possessed several balloons which contained marijuana while he was serving a sentence at the prison, which is located near Welch. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
In an unrelated case, Lakeisha Danell Howze, 28, of Bluefield, was sentenced to three years’ probation for possession of hydromorphone, a prescription painkiller commonly prescribed under the brand-name Dilaudid. Howze pleaded guilty in September, admitting that on Jan. 28, 2013, she possessed hydromorphone without a valid prescription. The offense took place at or near Princeton. The investigation was conducted by the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force under the Bluefield Pill Initiative. The prosecution is part of an ongoing effort 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 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is 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.
Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber imposed today’s sentences.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
