Pocahontas County Drug Raid Nabs 18 People

Marlinton, Wv – In the early morning hours of May 10th, Pocahontas County Sheriff David Jonese and eight deputies, along with three US Forest Service Officers fanned out across parts of the county in a large drug raid, that in some cases, has been more than a year in the planning. At press time, the Sheriffs dept had apprehended 18 of the 21 targeted individuals. All arrested face felony charges of delivery of schedule II, III, and IV drugs, such as methadone, oxycodone, hydrocodone and cocaine. Sheriff Jonese says a tremendous amount of planning went into this operation.

“There’s a lot of review of the evidence” he says, “we had someone review all the evidence for and make sure it was good to go. Coodinated with the Federal agents of the task force and then we developed a plan on how we wanted to do it. They put together the entire briefing, we briefed every part of it, set a time and we put it in action.”

Sheriff Jonese says this raid could have a significant impact on the drug problem in the county.

“In a couple instances it should make quite a significant impact” says Jonese. “Of course you know there’s always going to be others picking up the slack and finding an opportunity; again there will be other arrests forthcoming. By the time we’re done we should have a fairly significant impact on the overall drug trade.”

It’s not just oxycontin and oxycodone that are the drugs of choice for dealers anymore. Other drugs such Roxicodone [narcotic analgesic] and Opana [narcotic pain medication] are also hitting the streets. Sheriff Jonese says they are also seeing an increase in methamphetamines and other street drugs such as cocaine.

“It’s in the area; it’s not the drug of choice, but there are several that using and dealing in the cocaine trade” he says. “We actually have others who are dealing in small amounts of heroin but primarily it’s the prescription medications.”

Pocahontas County has dropped from number one to number in the state for prescription drug abuse. Sheriff Jonese says that leaves a lot of room for improvement. At press time, those arrested were being processed by Magistrate Kathy Beverage to determine bonds and/or jail time.

List of Arrests made on the morning of May 10th, all counts are Felony Charges:

Brandon Wilfong, age 25 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Methadone

Kelley Cohenour, age 33 of Marlinton, 4 counts of Delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Roxicodone

Zachery P. Morrison, age 22 of Buckeye, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Roxicodone

Byran Bleche, age 27 of Green Bank, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Roxicodone

Teresa Morrison Teter, age 44 of Marlinton, 3 counts of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, 2 counts for Oxycodone, 1 count for Opana

Dustin K. Turner, age 33 of Marlinton, 5 counts of delivery of controlled substances – 4 counts for Schedule II – 2 for Opana, 2 for Percocet; 1 count for Schedule I – Marijuana

Christina Giese, age 29 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule III controlled substance, Hydrocodone

Dessie M. Defibaugh, age 21 of Marlinton, 2 counts of delivery of Schedule II controlled substance – 1 for Morphine, 1 for Roxicodone

Leslie Crookshanks, age 22 of Buckeye, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule IV controlled substance, Suboxone [used for treatment of opiate dependence]

Melissa Hoke aka Shinaberry, age 41 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Roxicodone

Steve Adkinson, age 37 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule III controlled substance, Hydrocodone

Carmen Sharp, age 31 of Buckeye, 2 counts of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, 1 for Oxycodone, 1 for Roxicodone

Christina Taylor, age 34 of Cass, 3 counts of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Roxicodone

Holly A. Sewell, age 27 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Opana

Brandy Moore and Steven Lee Moore, ages 29 and 30 respectively, of Marlinton, 3 counts each –

1 for delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Cocaine
1 for Possession with intent to distribute, Cocaine
1 for Conspiracy to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance, Cocaine

Phillip W. Shinaberry, age 21of Cass, 1 county of delivery of a Schedule III controlled substance, Hydrocodone

Karen Cutlip, age 21 of Marlinton, 1 count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, Morphine

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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