CHARLESTON, W.Va. - United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Whitney Reanne Kent, 26, of London, Kanawha County, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to possession of oxycodone with the intent to distribute.
On Dec. 5, 2012, investigators with the United States Postal Inspection Service and Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team were conducting a drug interdiction operation at the United States Post Office in Charleston when they executed a search warrant on a package addressed to Kent. The package contained 87 30-mg oxycodone tablets.
The investigators confronted Kent on Dec. 7, when she came to pick up the package. She admitted it contained oxycodone, and she intended to distribute the pills to another individual.
Kent faces up to 20 years in federal prison, and a fine of $1 million. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 11, 2015.
United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnson presided over the plea hearing.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and MDENT. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is 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
