Jury also returns guilty verdicts on Federal Gun Charges and Witness Tampering
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Late Friday, a federal jury sitting in Charleston returned a guilty verdict on all five counts of an indictment against Willie Slocum, Jr., 35, of Detroit, Michigan. Slocum was convicted following a five day trial of conspiracy to distribute over one kilogram of heroin, conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of tampering with a witness. The jury heard testimony last week from fifteen witnesses who purchased heroin and pills from Slocum, and who sold pills and heroin for Slocum in the Charleston area. Slocum was prohibited from possessing firearms by virtue of felony convictions in Michigan in 1999 for Second Degree Murder, Assault with Intent to Murder and Felony Possession of Firearms. Slocum faces up to life imprisonment when he is sentenced on February 4, 2015, by United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., who also presided over the trial.
The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.
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 and heroin. 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 and heroin trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
