Detroit Man Pleads Guilty to Trying to Hide Heroin in Police Car |
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U.S. Attorney’s Office
6 July 2015
HUNTINGTON, WV—A Detroit man who participated in a Huntington heroin distribution conspiracy in 2013 and 2014 pleaded guilty today to a federal drug charge, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced. Khaleef Teron Chandler, 21, entered a guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute heroin. Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers conducted the plea hearing.
On August 31, 2013, officers with the Huntington Police Department responded to a report of an altercation at 747 Washington Avenue in Huntington. Officers encountered Chandler at the residence. While talking with officers, Chandler attempted to conceal a plastic bag containing heroin.
Several months later, on February 9, 2014, Chandler was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Lakeisha Sherrell Williams that was stopped in Lawrence County, Ohio, by the Ohio Highway Patrol. Chandler and Williams were placed in the rear seat of a patrol vehicle during the stop. While in the police vehicle, Chandler and Williams attempted to conceal approximately 96 grams of heroin by stuffing it under the seat. Chandler and Williams were transporting the heroin from Detroit to Huntington, where they planned to distribute it. Chandler admitted as part of his plea that he distributed heroin in the Huntington area from August 2013 to February 2014.
Williams was previously sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in December 2014 for her role in the heroin conspiracy.
Chandler faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 5, 2015.
The Huntington FBI Drug Task Force conducted the investigation with assistance from the Huntington Police Department, Cabell County Sheriff’s Department and Ohio Highway Patrol. 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.