A Detroit, Michigan, man was sentenced for knowingly and intentionally distributing fentanyl in Huntington, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Joshua McCarver, 20, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers. Stuart commended the investigation conducted by the Huntington Police Department.
“No connections to West Virginia except selling drugs. That’s all this guy did in West Virginia. We will continue to prosecute every fentanyl case and fight back against out-of-state drug dealers like McCarver," said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Drug dealers from places like Detroit, Columbus and elsewhere have brought death and despair to the hills of West Virginia."
Joshua McCarver, 20, previously pled guilty to knowingly and intentionally distributing fentanyl. On Feb. 19, 2018, officers with the Huntington Police Department’s Special Emphasis Unit utilized a confidential informant to arrange a controlled buy of heroin from McCarver. McCarver arrived at the buy location in the West End of Huntington and provided the confidential informant with a substance he represented to be heroin in exchange for $70. Testing by the West Virginia State Police Lab confirmed the substance to actually be fentanyl. Officers conducted another buy from McCarver in January 2018 that also involved fentanyl. Historical information gathered by the Special Emphasis Unit revealed that McCarver had been dealing heroin in the Huntington area for at least six months prior to the January 2018 controlled buy.
While imposing the sentence, the Court noted that McCarver had no connections to West Virginia and came to the Huntington area just to sell drugs and make money. Thus, he was the type of drug dealer from a big city like Detroit, Michigan and Columbus, Ohio, that this community had come to fear.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman.
This case was prosecuted as part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.), an enforcement surge that seeks to reduce the supply of deadly synthetic opioids in high impact areas.
SDWVNews and USAttyStuart
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
