BECKLEY, W.Va. - United States Attorney Mike Stuart announced today that two area men entered guilty pleas to federal charges in Beckley.
James David Morris Jr., 39, of Beckley, pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Morris admitted that on Oct. 14, 2017, he was riding a motorcycle in Harper Heights when he was stopped by a Raleigh County Sheriff’s Deputy, who found that Morris had a revolver in the waistband of his pants. The firearm was stolen. Morris was prohibited from possessing a firearm by virtue of his 2013 federal conviction of being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. Morris faces up to ten years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 29, 2018. Stuart commended the investigation conducted by the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
In a separate case, Cody Reed Godfrey, 25, of White Sulphur Springs, pled guilty to distribution of a quantity of oxymorphone. Godfrey admitted that on June 13, 2017, he distributed oxymorphone pills to a confidential informant in Alderson. Godfrey also admitted that in June of 2017 he helped set up another hydromorphone sale, he sold a small quantity of methamphetamine, and he possessed several oxymorphone pills with the intent to distribute them. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 29, 2018. Stuart praised the work of the Greenbrier Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force in this case.
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger presided at the plea hearings. Assistant United States Attorney John File is handling the prosecutions.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
