HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Leroy Lumpkin Wilson, also known as Brian Knowles and B. K., 33, of Lexington, Kentucky, pled guilty in federal court in Huntington today to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin. Wilson admitted that between as early as 2010 and Jan. 20, 2014, he worked as a drug courier for Mark Silverburg, a drug supplier for Kenneth Newman, also known as “K-Kutta." Wilson transported cocaine from around Lexington to Huntington for Newman. Wilson also carried payments for the cocaine from Newman to Silverburg.
On January 8, 2014, Wilson brought approximately $6,800 from Newman’s residence on Artisan Avenue in Huntington to Silverburg in Kentucky. On January 9, 2014, Silverburg instructed Wilson to travel from Lexington to Newman’s residence in Huntington. Prior to that drive, Silverburg placed a brown paper bag in the trunk of the car Wilson was driving. Once Wilson arrived at Newman’s residence, Newman took two plastic bags full of cocaine out of the brown paper bag. Wilson estimated the total weight of the cocaine to be between 6 and 9 ounces.
Wilson also performed construction work on rental property owned by George Newman, Kenneth Newman’s brother. Wilson was paid in cash and in heroin for the work performed. George Newman instructed Wilson to pay his workers in heroin.
Silverburg, the Newman brothers, and seven other defendants have pled guilty to various charges stemming from the year-long investigation by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Huntington Police Department, and the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team. The investigation revealed that in addition to cocaine and heroin, members of the Newman conspiracy were responsible for distributing oxycodone, crack cocaine, morphine, MDMA, known on the street as “Molly" or “Ecstasy," and marijuana.
Wilson faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on Feb. 23, 2015.
The case is being 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 trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
