CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston man pled guilty to a federal drug and firearm charges, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  Randall Lee Patton, 26, pled guilty to aiding and abetting the distribution of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a felon before Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.  Stuart commended the investigation conducted by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), Nitro Police Department, Charleston Police Department, South Charleston Police Department, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“These cases just keep coming – felons with guns dealing drugs,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “And we just keep prosecuting them to keep our communities safe.”

At public court hearings, it was established that on August 2, 2018, Christian Ryan Bowles brought over a pound of pure methamphetamine to Patton’s house on Garrison Avenue in Charleston.  Bowles supplied Patton with 34 grams of Bowles’ methamphetamine.  Patton then had his neighbor, George Ray Breckenridge, transport the 34 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential police informant in Dunbar, West Virginia.

Further, on January 12, 2019, police investigators executed a search warrant at an apartment where Patton was staying on South Pinch Road in Pinch, West Virginia.  The investigators found Patton exiting his room where a Kel-Tech pistol was lying on the nightstand.  Patton was prohibited from possessing firearms because of his prior felony conviction for unlawful wounding.  Patton was arrested and searched incident to arrest, and investigators found he was carrying over 4 grams of methamphetamine for resale.

Patton faces up to 50 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on August 21, 2019.  Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman is handling the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

 

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