Beckley Man Sentenced For Role In Drug Trafficking Organization
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 9:15 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BECKLEY, W.VA.- Earlier last week, a 35-year-old Beckley, West Virginia, man, and a convicted local drug dealer learned he would be spending over the next eight years in federal prison after being sentenced for his role in an interstate drug trafficking organization.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, Jermaine Antoine Johnson, 35, of Beckley, West Virginia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank W. Volk 105 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances, Methamphetamine, Fentanyl, and Crack Cocaine.
Judge Volk Notes Johnson’s Long Criminal History
In handing down the sentence on Wednesday, Judge Volk noted Johnson’s extensive criminal history, which includes prior convictions for malicious assault, battery on a corrections officer, first-degree robbery, possession with intent to deliver narcotics, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to charging documents and statements made in the District Court, Johnston participated in a drug trafficking conspiracy that trafficked illicit narcotics from June 2023 through May 2024, from Maryland into the Southern District of West Virginia. During his plea allocution, Johnson admitted to supplying others with controlled substances that were ultimately distributed within the Beckley, West Virginia area and elsewhere within the Southern District of West Virginia.
Johnson And Co-Defendant Travel To Baltimore
As part of his negotiated plea agreement, Johnson further admitted that he and a co-conspirator traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, on May 20, 2024, where they purchased $6,000 of deadly fentanyl. Johnson and his co-conspirator returned to West Virginia the following day and discussed increasing the volume of the purchased fentanyl by adding such cutting agents as sugar or brown sugar.
Johnson is among 12 individuals indicted on charges alleging the defendants conspired to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, and crack cocaine within the Southern District of West Virginia from in or about June 2023 to in or about May 2024. All 12 pleaded guilty, including two defendants who pleaded guilty to separate charges in lieu of the offenses alleged in the indictment.
Acting U.S. Attorney Johnston commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Beckley/Raleigh County Drug and Violent Crime Unit, which consists of officers from the West Virginia State Police, the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department, and the Beckley Police Department.
