Defendant caught with more than 300 pills hidden in detergent box
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Kendall Lamar Spears, 35, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after a December 2014 jury conviction on possession with intent to distribute oxymorphone, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today. In late October 2012, Spears paid a Huntington couple to drive him to Detroit under the pretense of allowing him to visit family. After they arrived in Detroit, Spears left the couple for approximately an hour and returned with several bags from a Family Dollar store. He then went into a back room of the apartment in which the couple was waiting, where, according to trial testimony, Spears remained for approximately one hour before notifying the couple that he was ready to return to Huntington.
While in Detroit, the female who was driving Spears called her mother and told her that she was concerned that Spears was bringing heroin back to Huntington for resale. The woman’s parents relayed the information to members of the Huntington Police Department, who, along with agents from the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force, set up surveillance in anticipation of the group’s return. When law enforcement saw the van traveling back into Huntington, they stopped it and, with the owner’s permission, searched it. During the search, agents seized 302 oxymorphone pills inside a box of detergent located inside a Family Dollar bag in the seat where Spears had been riding.
Following the discovery of the pills, the couple informed law enforcement that they were unaware of what the package contained.
Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the two-day jury trial and the sentencing hearing.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
