Four sentenced for drug trafficking in Eastern Panhandle

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Four people have been sentenced for drug trafficking crimes in the Northern District of West Virginia.

• Gary Weldon, also known as “Fatboy,” age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland, was sentenced today to 100 months for two heroin charges.
• James Davis Graham, also known as “JD Graham,” age 41, of Augusta, West Virginia, was sentenced to 18 months for selling heroin and fentanyl.
• Jeanette L. Henkel, age 32, of Augusta, West Virginia, was sentenced to 41 months for charges of selling heroin and fentanyl.
• Jonathan Ross Blankenbaker, age 32, of Inwood, West Virginia, was sentenced to five years of probation for eutylone trafficking.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Weldon, Graham, and Henkel were working with others to transport heroin and fentanyl from Baltimore to Hampshire County, West Virginia. Court documents show that in addition to the sale of drugs, firearms were trafficked and traded for drugs. The investigation yielded several firearms, ammunition, and thousands of dollars in cash.

In a separate case, Blankenbaker sold eutylone in Berkeley County and elsewhere.  According to court documents and statements made in court, investigators searched a motel room in Martinsburg that was being used to sell eutylone and methamphetamine and found both drugs and more than $12,500 in cash.

The Potomac Highlands Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, led the Weldon, Graham, and Henkel investigation. The Task Force consists of members from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the West Virginia State Police, the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office, the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, the Hardy County Sheriff’s Office, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, and the Keyser Police Department. The Hampshire County Prosecutor’s Office assisted.

The Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, and the Martinsburg Police Department investigated the Blankenbaker matter. The Task Force consists of the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm, and Explosives; the West Virginia State Police; the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office; the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; the Ranson Police Department; and the Charles Town Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the cases on behalf of the government.

U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.