June 25, 2014

Two Area Men Plead Guilty to Federal Heroin Charges

BECKLEY, WV—United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that two area men pled guilty to drug charges in federal court in Beckley. Tommy Ray Prater II, 34, of Beaver, pled guilty to traveling in interstate commerce to facilitate unlawful activity. He admitted that on April 9 and 10, 2013, he and another person drove from Shady Spring, West Virginia to Camden, New Jersey, where they obtained heroin, and returned to Shady Spring where the heroin was sold. Prater admitted that he had made this same trip for heroin on other occasions. He faces a sentence of up to five years and a $250,000 fine. The case was investigated by the West Virginia State Police, the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI.

Christopher Miller, 32, of Alderson, pled guilty to distribution of heroin. Miller admitted that in August of 2013, he distributed two packets of heroin to a person cooperating with law enforcement authorities. The drug deal took place in the Alderson area. Miller faces a sentence of up to twenty years and a $1,000,000 fine. His case was investigated by the Greenbrier County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force and is being prosecuted under the Greenbrier Heroin and Pill Initiative directed by the United States Attorney’s Office.

This case is 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 pills and heroin in communities across the Southern District.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger set sentencings in both cases for October 23, 2014.