Putnam County Man Pleads Guilty to Role in Huntington Methamphetamine Trafficking Organization

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Denzil Roger Grant II, 50, of Hurricane, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute a quantity of methamphetamine. Grant admitted to his role in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Huntington area.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on September 27, 2023, Grant called co-defendant Derrell Cashawn Massey and asked to purchase fentanyl and methamphetamine. Grant admitted that after arranging the transaction, he traveled from Hurricane to Huntington where he met with Massey and bought methamphetamine.

Grant was returning to Hurricane from Huntington when law enforcement officers stopped his vehicle in Putnam County. Grant consented to a search of the vehicle, and a female passenger in his vehicle gave officers approximately 13.5 grams of methamphetamine. Grant admitted that he intended to distribute the seized methamphetamine and further admitted that the passenger had hidden the methamphetamine on her person at his request.

Grant is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, at least three years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

Grant is among 27 individuals indicted in a 53-count indictment that charges the defendants with distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl transported from Detroit, Michigan, in Huntington and other locations within the Southern District of West Virginia. The indictment against Massey and the remaining defendants is pending. An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and 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 Cabell County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), the West Virginia State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 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.

United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph F. Adams and Stephanie Taylor are 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. 3:23-cr-180. 

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