WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA - Eight people are facing charges of distributing heroin, cocaine, “crack" cocaine, and fentanyl after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Wheeling earlier this week, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
“Whether you live in another state or not, engaging in federal criminal conduct in the Northern District of West Virginia will get you prosecuted," said Powell.
The 24-count indictment alleges heroin, cocaine, “crack" cocaine, and fentanyl distribution in Hancock County and elsewhere from February 2018 to July 2019. Those named in the indictment are:
• Robert Leon Sullivan, age 55, of Steubenville, Ohio
• Antonio Dewayne Brown, age 35, of Weirton, West Virginia
• Michael Bernard Barnett, age 43, of Steubenville, Ohio
• Ryan Thomas Savage, age 36, of Wintersville, Ohio
• Rolland Kwame Owens, age 29, of Steubenville, Ohio
• Rashaan Donell Mukes, age 33, of Steubenville, Ohio
• Shannon Terill Loveless, age 41, of Steubenville, Ohio
• Zjaondezel Solomyn Douglas, age 35, of Zelienople, Pennsylvania
“The men and women of the DEA, working alongside our law enforcement partners, are committed to making communities like Weirton safer by getting rid of illegal drugs, and locking up those who traffic them," said D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Louisville Field Division, which oversees the agency’s operations in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, Kentucky.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danae DeMasi-Lemon and Robert H. McWilliams, Jr. are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Marshall County Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; The Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the Jefferson County, Ohio, Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force; the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office; the Brooke County Sheriff’s Office; the Weirton Police Department; and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Police investigated.
The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
