Eddie Wayne Chapman Jr., a 39-year-old resident of St. Albans, has been sentenced to five years and ten months in prison, in addition to three years of supervised release. He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and violating supervised release.
On July 18, 2024, Chapman was found in possession of a backpack, which he admitted contained a loaded Smith & Wesson SD9 VE 9mm pistol, two ammunition magazines, and approximately 65 grams of controlled substances containing fentanyl.
Federal law restricts those with past felony convictions from possessing firearms or ammunition. Chapman acknowledged his awareness of this prohibition due to prior convictions. On October 23, 2017, he was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia for being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Additionally, he was convicted on September 30, 2010, for conspiracy to operate a clandestine drug laboratory in the Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Chapman was on supervised release for the 2017 convictions when he committed the current offense. As part of the sentence, he received an additional one year and three months for committing a crime while on supervised release.
Lisa G. Johnston, Acting United States Attorney, announced the sentencing and praised the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office for its investigation. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin issued the sentence, with Assistant United States Attorney JC MacCallum handling the prosecution.
This case is included in Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence by engaging law enforcement and communities. The Department launched a related violent crime reduction strategy on May 26, 2021, which focuses on fostering community trust, supporting preventive community-based organizations, setting strategic enforcement priorities, and assessing outcomes.
Further information and related court documents are available on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website for the Southern District of West Virginia and the PACER database under Case No. 2:24-cr-193.
