ELKINS, W. Va. – After two years of investigations conducted by the Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a key player in a marijuana and oxycodone trafficking operation has been arrested and indicted along with three others.
“The quantities that were brought to this region were significant,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia William Ihlenfeld said. “Those amounts will come out in great detail as these matters proceed through the court system, but I can tell you that this is one of the most significant dismantlings of a drug organization this region has ever seen.”
Chad Allen Workman, 37, of Beverly, one of the alleged organizers of the operation, is charged with one count of Conspiracy related to the distribution of marijuana, Money Laundering, Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises, Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Possession of an Unregistered Machine Gun –a Bushmaster .223 caliber not registered to him– and Possession of a Firearm by an Unlawful Drug User.
Taking all the charges into account, he faces up to 65 years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000,000.
Also named in the indictment, which was unsealed Monday, were Charles Shawn Shannon, 54, of Belington, Roy Melvin Isner, 62, and Mark W. Lambert, 39, both of Elkins.
They all face the same Conspiracy charge related to the distribution of “50 kilograms or more” of marijuana, according to the indictment.
Shannon is further charged with two counts of Distribution of Marijuana and faces a total of 10 years in prison, along with a $500,000 fine.
Isner is further charged with one count of Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises, one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone. He faces up to 50 years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000,000.
Lambert is further charged with one count of Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises and four counts of Distribution of Marijuana. He faces up to 45 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,750,000.
(Read the full indictment here.)
“It feels great that the law enforcement community is able to give back our community by ridding the drugs and the drug traffickers from our community,” Randolph County Sheriff Mark Brady said. “Our children can grow up in a safer environment.”
The defendants are alleged to have worked closely with other individuals previously charged with drug trafficking in the Northern District of West Virginia.
Ihlenfeld said it would not be possible to take on an organization such as this without the Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force –which is made up of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DEA, the U.S. Forest Service, the West Virginia State Police and the Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices in Tucker, Randolph and Pocahontas Counties.
“It’s hard to get focused on an organization like this. It’s hard to have the time and the resources to go after an organization like this, but by coming together and focusing, gathering all that intelligence all under one roof, it makes it a lot easier to infiltrate an organization like this.”
Chad Frederick Arbogast, 36, of Belington, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for selling oxycodone in Barbour County and Chad Preston, 35, of Coalton, was sentenced to three years of probation for oxycodone trafficking in Elkins.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment in December charging four individuals for their role in a scheme to procure oxycodone from sources in Detroit, New Jersey, and Florida for redistribution and sale in West Virginia.
Jonathan Paul Calain, 37, of Elkins, pleaded guilty in February to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Oxycodone, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000. Matthew L. Cordero, 32, of Vineland, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in February to Distribution of Oxycodone, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of to $1,000,000. Gregory Stephen Scott, 34, of Beverly, pleaded guilty in February to one count of Aiding and Abetting the Distribution of Oxycodone, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000. Stevie Lea Sharp, 28, of Coalton, pleaded guilty in February 2015 to one count of Distribution of Oxycodone, for which she faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
In another related matter, a federal grand jury returned an indictment in December charging Arthur Woodrow Pritt, Jr., 38, of Archer, Florida, with transporting marijuana from Florida into West Virginia. He pleaded guilty in February 2015 to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana, for which he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
“We anticipate further arrests in this investigation,” Ihlenfeld said. “They could go down [in terms of rank within the organization] or they could go up.”
The Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force is leading the inquiry with assistance from the Greater Harrison County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Warner is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.