CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Parkersburg man was sentenced today to two years and three months in federal prison for distribution of heroin and crack, and for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. James Miller Johnson, III, 27, previously pleaded guilty in September 2015 to the federal drug and gun charges.
Johnson admitted that on Aug. 14, 2014, he sold heroin and crack in Parkersburg to a confidential informant working with law enforcement. When Johnson was arrested on the drug charge near Vienna on Nov. 19, 2014, law enforcement found Johnson with a Colt.45 Gold Cup National Match semiautomatic pistol. Johnson was prohibited from possessing any firearm under federal law because of a 2009 felony conviction in Logan County, Ohio, for drug possession.
The Parkersburg Narcotics Task Force, the Vienna Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Boggess handled the prosecution. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.
This case was also 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.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
