Four sentenced in Eastern Panhandle drug trafficking operation

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Four men have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in an Eastern Panhandle drug trafficking operation.

Kirk Leon Grantham, age 45, of Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced today to 57 months for the distribution of controlled substances. Grantham was the leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy and worked with others in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties to sell cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.

Three of Grantham’s co-defendants were also sentenced, as follows:

• Julian Demont Pace, age 48, of Bunker Hill, West Virginia was sentenced to 41 months.
• Ronald Lee Jackson, age 36, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 15 months.
• William Brown, age 75, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to three years of probation.

Pace, Jackson, and Brown each have multiple prior drug trafficking convictions.

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

The FBI and the Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.