CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Hurricane man was sentenced for a federal firearm offense, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Johnny Ray Thacker, 63, was sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin to 60 months in prison for carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Stuart commended the investigation conducted by the Charleston Police Department, the Dunbar Police Department, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“Thacker was a gun-toting drug dealer peddling meth and heroin with two previous felonies," said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Drug trafficking is a violent business. When we catch drug dealers carrying guns in furtherance of their drug trafficking business, we will prosecute them for it every single time."
Thacker previously admitted that on July 3, 2018, a Charleston Police Officer stopped him for speeding 24 miles per hour over the speed limit on Sissonville Drive. Thacker told the officer he had a gun on the passenger seat, which the officer temporarily secured for their safety. Thacker was a two-time felon, whose rights to possess a firearm had not been restored. While retrieving Thacker’s gun, the officer spotted marijuana scattered on it. Officers then searched Thacker’s vehicle and recovered several grams of methamphetamine and heroin, baggies for drug packaging, and a scale.
Thacker further admitted that on Sept. 3, 2018, police officers were called to Dunbar Memorial Park regarding suspected drug trafficking out of a lime green colored vehicle. Officers spotted Thacker parked in a lime green car. After a specially-trained police dog detected the odor of drugs coming from Thacker’s car, police searched it and found approximately 4.5 grams of methamphetamine, baggies, a scale, a baggie of powdered sugar for cutting drugs, and a ledger documenting drug debts and sales. Thacker claimed the drugs.
Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Scott and former Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman handled the prosecution.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
