September 9, 2015

Kentucky Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug Charge

HUNTINGTON, WV—A Kentucky woman caught with a large quantity of pills during a traffic stop in Huntington in 2014 pleaded guilty today to a federal drug charge, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. Karen Sue Fields, 45, entered a guilty plea in federal court in Huntington to possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and alprazolam.

On July 6, 2014, an officer with the Huntington Police Department was flagged down by a motorist on 5th Street Road in Huntington. The motorist alerted the officer to another vehicle driving erratically on 5th Street. The officer located the vehicle, which was operated by Fields, and conducted a traffic stop after Fields made several abrupt turns in an attempt to evade the officer. The officer then observed multiple bags of pills in the floorboard of Fields’ vehicle. After conducting a search, the officer located 819 30mg oxycodone tablets and in excess of 50 2mg alprazolam tablets. Fields admitted that she had traveled from Kentucky and had purchased the pills for $17,500. Fields also admitted that she taking the pills back to Kentucky to be delivered to another.

Fields faces up to 20 years in federal prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, 2015.

The Huntington FBI Drug Task Force and Huntington Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams is in charge of the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.