CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A man from Los Angeles, California, pleaded guilty today to a federal methamphetamine charge, announced United States Attorney Booth Goodwin. Terry Cunningham, 32, entered his guilty plea in federal court in Charleston, West Virginia, to distribution of methamphetamine.
Cunningham admitted that on July 14, 2015, he shipped a package containing methamphetamine to an undercover Kanawha County Deputy Sheriff working with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team. After the undercover officer picked up the package, Cunningham provided instructions for making payment for the shipment with MoneyGram. Cunningham went to pick up the MoneyGram payment at a Walmart in Los Angeles, and immediately texted the undercover officer that he had received payment. Agents conducting surveillance in Los Angeles also observed Cunningham collecting the payment, and arrested him shortly after the payment confirmation.
Cunningham faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced in federal court in Charleston on April 6th, 2016.
The successful prosecution of Cunningham was the result of the collaborative investigative efforts of Homeland Security Investigations, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.
This case was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat illegal drugs in our communities, including 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 other drugs in communities across the Southern District.