CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Two Charleston men pled guilty to federal drug trafficking offenses, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. presided over the hearings.
“Law enforcement intercepted a pound of pure meth in this case," said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “I commend law enforcement for their work in this case that prevented further distribution of this powerful drug."
Christian Ryan Bowles, 27, pled guilty to possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Public court hearings and Bowles’ plea agreement established that on Aug. 2, 2018, Bowles brought mason jars containing about a pound of pure methamphetamine to Randall Lee Patton’s house on Garrison Avenue in Charleston. Bowles supplied Patton with 34 grams of the methamphetamine. Patton then had his neighbor, George Ray Breckenridge, transport the 34 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential police informant at the Dunbar Plaza Hotel. Police investigators conducting surveillance saw Bowles place the mason jars in the woods behind his house, where they were recovered. Bowles faces up to life in federal prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 13, 2019.
George Ray Breckenridge, 41, pled guilty to distribution of methamphetamine. Court hearings and public filings established that, on Aug. 2, 2018, Breckenridge, working with two other drug traffickers, traveled from his house on Garrison Avenue in Charleston to the Dunbar Plaza Hotel, where he delivered 34 grams of pure methamphetamine to a police confidential informant. Police investigators tried to initiate a traffic stop on Breckenridge’s car as he drove back home from the hotel. Breckenridge then took off back to his house on Garrison Avenue, where he fled on foot into the woods. Investigators arrested Breckenridge minutes later. Breckenridge faces a mandatory minimum ten years and up to life in federal prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 14, 2019.
The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), Nitro Police Department, Charleston Police Department, South Charleston Police Department, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman is handling the prosecutions.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
