CHARLESTON, W.Va. — At the beginning of October, U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart and law enforcement officials stood on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse in Charleston to announce ‘Project Charleston,’ an effort to make the streets of Charleston’s west side safer.
Less than a month later, significant steps have been by Stuart and law enforcement as they announced a major seizure of drugs, guns, and cash in that section of Charleston that had been coming in from a drug trafficking organization in Akron. Ohio. The announcement was made Monday at the U.S. Courthouse.
“The fentanyl in this operation alone would have caused such harm, chaos pain to families,” Stuart said. “We are not going to tolerate that type of thing. Due to the law enforcement that stands with me today, we were able to prevent a real calamity.
“The days of lawlessness and drug dealers on the west side of Charleston is over. Let me say with absolute certainty, the people of Kanawha County, Charleston’s west side and the multi-state region are safer today as a result of this operation.”
The investigation into drug trafficking, headed by the DEA and MDENT, led to the arrest of Eugene Wells, a poly-drug distributor from Akron, and other members of his organization in Charleston. The drug seizures in this operation were over 600 grams of suspected fentanyl, approximately 1400 grams of heroin and over 700 grams of methamphetamine. Stuart noted that the amount of fentanyl seized could kill around 300,000 people.
Over $12,000 in U.S. currency and 8 guns were also seized.
“The more guns that we get off the street and out of the hands of drug dealers, the safer everybody, not only the city of Charleston but in this region will be,” Charleston Police Chief Steve Cooper said.
“I’m very proud of the efforts of the law enforcement officers involved and the partnership with the DEA and MDENT.”
Stuart announced that on September 28, DEA agents and MDENT officers executed a search warrant on a drug stash house on the west side of Charleston that led to the arrests of Wells, Miranda Brandon, and Sherry Gray. This stash house where the drugs, guns, and cash were seized was the residence of Brandon.
They have been charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, including fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. Each had a prior felony conviction and therefore was also prohibited from possessing any firearm.
“If convicted, this road map for Wells and his associates leads to one thing, the federal pen,” Stuart said. “There are not going to get the opportunity to go back to Akron.
“I intend to continue to focus federal resources on ridding the west side of these criminal elements, violent crime, drug thugs, and hooligans that cause chaos, fear, and despair for law abiding citizens in that community.”
Joining Stuart in the announcement were Cooper, DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Gourley, HSI Resident in Charge Matthew Perry, Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Sutherford, Chief Deputy Sheriff Greg Young, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Chris Leachman, and representatives from MDENT.