28-Year-Old Cleveland, Ohio Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Cocaine & Fentanyl Conspiracy
Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 8:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
WHEELING, WV.- On Monday, August 19, 2024, Solomon Eli Watters appeared in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for his part in an illicit narcotics trafficking conspiracy in Ohio County, West Virginia.
In January 2023, Watters appeared in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base and 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl.
Documents Filed With The Court
According to documents filed with the court in February 2022, Watters was operating a motor vehicle when members of the Wheeling Police Department conducted a motor vehicle traffic stop on Watters’s vehicle. A subsequent search by Police Officers on Watters’ Audi A7 resulted in the seizure of $3,556 in cash and a Walther .380 caliber handgun which had been reported stolen.
Police Officers arrested Watters and obtained a court-authorized search warrant for Watters’s residence. During the execution of the search warrant, Officers found two more handguns, ammunition, digital scales, and cocaine base.
Additional Search Warrants
Additional search warrants were obtained for two storage units in Washington, Pennsylvania, that Watters rented. During those searches, law enforcement located 1.26 kilograms of fentanyl and an additional $208,860 in cash.
“The profits from fentanyl trafficking are spectacular, and that’s why people like Mr. Watters engage in it,” said United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld. “We will continue to pursue long prison sentences in these cases and the forfeiture of the cash they generate.”
The court ordered that $212,416 in U.S. currency and the Audi A7 be forfeited in addition to the firearms and ammunition.
   Upon release from federal custody, Watters, due to his prior criminal history of firearms, narcotics possession, and aggravated assault convictions, will be required to serve an additional five years of supervised release.
