Hancock County Man Pleads Guilty To Distrubuting Fentanyl
Monday, April 21, 2025, 9:20 A.M. ET. 1 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
WHEELING, W.VA.- Last Thursday, a 46-year-old Weirton, West Virginia man learned that he is potentially facing up to two decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl throughout the Hancock County, West Virginia, area.
On Thursday, April 17, 2025, David Paul Truax, 46, of Weirton, West Virginia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Mazzone to one count of Distribution of a Controlled Substance, Fentanyl.
Truax Faces Up To 20 Years In Federal Prison
Following entering his guilty plea on Thursday, Judge Mazzone accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing on a date and time to be determined by the District Court. At sentencing, Truax faces up to 20 years in federal prison, at least three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard and charging documents filed with the District Court, during an investigation into illicit narcotics distribution within the Northern District of West Virginia, federal, local, and state investigators identified Truax as part of a drug trafficking organization that stretched from Chicago to the Ohio Valley, including the Weirton, West Virginia.
During the course of the investigation, investigators determined that Truax was distrubuting quanties of deadly fentanyl throughout Weirton, West Virginia.
