A former West Virginia State University basketball player was sentenced Tuesday to spend two years in federal prison for selling heroin near a dormitory.
Kendrick Leon Ward, 25, of Oak Park, Michigan, pleaded guilty in September to distribution of heroin within 1,000 feet of school property.
On Nov. 8 and 11, 2013, Ward sold heroin to a confidential informant on school property near the Dawson Hall dormitory, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's office.
On Nov. 12, 2013, police executed a search warrant at Ward's dorm room, located in Dawson Hall. Officer found about 20 grams of heroin, 100 30-milligram oxycodone pills and 100 30-milligam tramadol pills. Also found was a little more than $21,000 cash, including the bills used in the controlled heroin transaction with the confidential informant, according to the release.
Ward's case was investigated by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team.
U.S. District Court Judge John Copenhaver handed down the sentence, which also includes six years of supervised release following his prison term.
Before coming to West Virginia State in 2012, Ward, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound-point guard, played at Detroit's Academy of Oak Park High School and Columbus State Community College, where he helped lead the Cougars to the regular season Ohio Community College Athletic Conference title.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or @KateLWhite on Twitter.