Operation Smoke and Mirrors Update: Two Kanawha County Men Plead Guilty to Role in Methamphetamine Trafficking Organization

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Michael Allen Roberts Jr., 40, of St. Albans, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine, and Les Van Bumpus, 34, of Charleston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Roberts and Bumpus each admitted to their roles in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that operated in the Charleston area.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between November 2022 and March 15, 2023, Roberts conspired with other individuals to distribute quantities of methamphetamine. Roberts admitted to purchasing methamphetamine from a co-defendant who often fronted the methamphetamine to him and allowed Roberts to pay him back after he sold it. Roberts further admitted that he typically paid $2,000 for a pound of methamphetamine, and used his cell phone to arrange transactions with the co-defendant.

Roberts admitted that this co-defendant delivered 50 pounds of methamphetamine to Roberts’ residence a couple of weeks prior to March 15, 2023. Roberts further admitted that he intended to sell this methamphetamine to other people.

On March 15, 2023, law enforcement officers searched a property on Smith Street in St. Albans and seized approximately 44 pounds of methamphetamine. Roberts admitted that he had placed the methamphetamine at the property a day or two before the search.

Between December 2022 and March 22, 2023, Bumpus was living in Dunbar and conspired with others to distribute what he believed was heroin but now knows was fentanyl. Bumpus admitted to purchasing fentanyl from a co-defendant who often fronted the fentanyl to him and allowed Bumpus to pay him back after he sold it.

On March 22, 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Bumpus’ Dunbar residence and found approximately 89 grams of fentanyl and a loaded Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol.

Roberts is scheduled to be sentenced on November 8, 2023, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, five years to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $10 million fine. Bumpus is scheduled to be sentenced on November 6, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

Roberts and Bumpus are among 30 individuals indicted as a result of Operation Smoke and Mirrors, a major drug trafficking investigation that has yielded the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history. Law enforcement has seized of well over 200 pounds of methamphetamine as well as 28 pounds of cocaine, 20 pounds of fentanyl, 18 firearms and $747,000 in cash.

More than a dozen of the defendants have pleaded guilty. Indictments against the other defendants are pending. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard Counter Drug program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office. MDENT is composed of the Charleston Police Department, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Nitro Police Department, the St. Albans Police Department and the South Charleston Police Department.

Chief United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy B. Wolfe is prosecuting the case.

The investigation was part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy. OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:23-cr-31. 

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