HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — An auto mechanic who sold prescription pain pills from a Huntington shop is heading to prison.
According to a release from U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin’s Office, Vernon Browning, 45, of South Point, Ohio, was sentenced Monday to six years in prison. He had previously pleaded guilty in April to distribution of oxycodone.
The release states that beginning in 2008, Browning funded and organized dozens of trips to Atlanta to obtain oxycodone and oxymorphone pills. He would then transport the pills back to the Little Garage on the Corner automotive shop in Huntington where Browning and his associates stored and illegally sold the pills.
During the scheme, which continued through this year, Browning rented vehicles for the trips to Atlanta and helped associates obtain driver’s licenses in an effort to get legitimate prescriptions from Georgia doctors, the release stated.
Browning also rented hotel rooms on 32 different occasions and typically paid for the room rentals in cash between January 2012 and July 2012.
According to the release, Browning sold 18 30-milligram oxymorphone pills to a confidential informant working for the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force in March 2012. Then on February 24, 2012, law enforcement agents conducted a controlled purchase of two oxymorphone pills from Browning.
Finally on March 3, 2013, police intercepted a large shipment oxycodone pills from Georgia to his South Point residence.
The Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force conducted the investigation.