Ohio Man Sentenced To Over A Decade In Federal Prison For Fentanyl Crime
Friday, September 6, 2024, 10:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
CHARLESTON, W.Va.- U.S. Attorney Will Thompson reported that on Thursday, September 5, 2024, Timothy Edwin Payne, Jr, 43, of Belpre, Ohio, appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in federal prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute 100 Grams or More of Fentanyl.
During Thursday’s hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas E. Johnston handed down the sentence, citing Payne’s lengthy criminal history, which includes three prior felony convictions, including one for a narcotics offense, and eleven misdemeanor convictions. Judge Johnston also ordered Payne to be subject to an additional five years of supervised release upon his release from prison.
Documents Filed With Court
According to documents unsealed in the indictment and filed with the court, on April 4, 2022, Payne arranged for a package containing approximately one kilogram of fentanyl to be shipped through the United States Postal Service from California to an apartment in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Payne paid the apartment’s resident $1000 to receive the package until Payne could pick it up.
Police Intercept Package
Law enforcement intercepted the package before it was scheduled to arrive at the apartment and replaced the fentanyl with a facsimile substance and a tracking device before it was delivered to the apartment. Payne tracked the package’s delivery utilizing his cellular phone and went to the apartment when the package arrived there on April 8, 2022.
When Payne opened the package, law enforcement knocked on the apartment door. Payne attempted to flee from the apartment but was arrested.
The intercepted package was part of a series of packages that had been shipped from California to the same apartment in Parkersburg, and those packages were also believed to have contained controlled substances.
U.S. Attorney Will Thompson commended the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Parkersburg Narcotics Task Force, and the Parkersburg Police Department for the investigation, arrest, and sentence.
