Fayette County Man Pleads Guilty To Role In Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

Monday, April 21, 2025, 2:45 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

BECKLEY, W.VA.- Last Thursday, a 41-year-old Oak Hill, West Virginia, man found out he could be possibly be spending the rest of his life in federal prison after pleading guilty to his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed quantities of methamphetamine in the Southern District of West Virginia.

     On Thursday, April 17, 2025, Phillip Gray, 41, of Oak Hill, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn to Conpriracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine.

     Following entering his guilty plea on Thursday, Judge Aboulhosn accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for August 8, 2025. At that time, Gray faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison, at least five years of supervised release, and a $10 million fine. At sentencing, a U.S. District Court Judge will determine the term of imprisonment based on the seriousness of the offense and Gray’s prior criminal history.

According To Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston and charging information filed with the District Court, during Thursday’s plea allocution, Gray admitted to conspiring with other individuals to obtain and distribute quantities of methamphetamine within the Southern District of West Virginia beginning in and around November 27, 2022 and lasting through December 6, 2023.

     During the course of a narcotics investigation, on November 27, 2022, Gray and a co-conspirator sold just around 446 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant under the observation of law enforcement investigators in exchange for $2,600.00 at a trailer park near Oak Hill, West Virginia. On February 2, 2023, Gray and another individual sold 443 grams of methamphetamine to the confidential informant at the trailer park, near Oak Hill.

     As part of his guilty plea, Gray admitted to both the November 27, 2022, and the February 2, 2023 transactions of methamphetamine to the confidential informant.

     Gray is among four people indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on charges alleging they had participated in the drug trafficking conspiracy. Leondus Whittenburg, 43, of Beckley, West Virginia, and John Gray, 39, of Oak Hill, West Virginia have both pleaded guilty and are currently awaiting sentencing. The charges unsealed in the indictment against Daemien Thompson, 39, also from Oak Hill, West Virginia remain pending.