CHARLESTON, W.Va. - United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Willie Slocum, Jr., 36, of Detroit, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
Following a five-day trial in November 2014, Slocum was convicted by a federal jury in Charleston of conspiracy to distribute heroin, conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of tampering with a witness.
Fifteen witnesses who purchased pills and heroin from Slocum, or sold them for him in the Charleston area testified before the jury to his guilt. Slocum ran his drug trafficking organization from Detroit, traveling to West Virginia while still on parole for a 1999 murder conviction in Michigan. It was this conviction, along with convictions for assault with intent to murder and felony possession of firearms, that prohibited Slocum from possessing a firearm.
Slocum used violence and threats of violence to keep his lower level dealers in line. He told Matt Quinn, an addict and low-level dealer, that if he got behind on his money that “he might as well jump in the river." Going beyond words, Slocum stabbed Chris O’Dell after he found O’Dell had stolen money and heroin from one of Slocum’s dealers.
United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver imposed the sentence.
The case was investigated by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Steven I. Loew was in charge of the prosecution.
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 trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communications across the Southern District.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
