MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - Ashley Lynn Hess, of Inwood, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 36 months of incarceration for her role in a drug conspiracy that spanned several states, Acting United States Attorney Randolph J. Bernard announced.
Hess, 32, pled guilty in November 2020 to one count of “Distribution of a Mixture and Substance Containing Phencyclidine (PCP)" and one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Cocaine Hydrochloride." Hess admitted to selling PCP and cocaine hydrochloride or “coke" in September 2019 in Berkeley County.
This case is the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) under the Attorney General-led Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS)/Special Operations Division (SOD) Project Clean Sweep. This initiative seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids in “hot spot" areas previously identified by the Attorney General of the United States, thereby reducing drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths, and identify wholesale distribution networks and sources of supply operating nationally and internationally. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Lydia Lehman, also with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.
Original press release here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/25-charged-six-state-drug-conspiracy-involving-heroin-fentanyl-cocaine
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
