CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two defendants pleaded guilty today to federal drug crimes, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Chelsea Fore, 25, of Charleston, entered her guilty plea to distribution of methamphetamine. In a separate prosecution, Everett Ray Gillespie, 66, of Bluefield, entered his guilty plea to distribution of hydromorphone.
On October 13, 2016, officers with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team used a confidential informant to meet with Fore to purchase methamphetamine. The drug deal took place in the area of the Kmart located at 4th Avenue in Charleston. Once the informant gave Fore the prerecorded buy money, Fore got into the passenger seat of a BMW in the Kmart parking lot. After retrieving the methamphetamine, Fore got out of the car and gave the informant the drugs. Fore faces up to 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced on June 5, 2017.
In a separate prosecution, Gillespie admitted that on April 15, 2016, he sold hydromorphone to a confidential informant in Bluefield. He also admitted that he distributed hydromorphone on another occasion, and that law enforcement seized 35 hydromorphone pills, more than $500 cash, and a handgun when they executed a search warrant at his residence. Gillespie faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on May 30, 2017.
The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team investigated the Fore case. Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman is in charge of the Fore prosecution. Fore’s plea hearing was held before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston. The Gillespie case was investigated by the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney John File is handling the prosecution of Gillespie. The Gillespie plea hearing was held before Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber.
The case against Gillespie is being prosecuted under the Bluefield Pill Initiative. Both of these cases were brought 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 illegal drugs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of illegal drugs in communities across the Southern District.
- Follow us on Twitter:SDWVNews