A Lincoln County man was sentenced Tuesday to spend nearly 12 years in federal prison for his role in a prescription pill trafficking ring that ran from Florida to West Virginia.
William Harrison Meade, 47, of Branchland, was sentenced to 139 months in prison for conspiring to distribute oxycodone. He faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The pill mill operation Meade admitted to led to the investigation of a Barboursville pharmacy and eventually the conviction of its owner, according to a spokesman for the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service.
In all, the conspiracy, in which Meade and the former owner of A+ Care Pharmacy, in Barboursville, pleaded guilty, was part of a far-reaching investigation that resulted in the convictions of 19 defendants on federal drug charges, including 15 local drug dealers and two drug dealers from outside West Virginia, federal prosecutors have previously said.
During a search of the drug suppliers' home in Florida, law enforcement found prescription pill bottles for oxycodone that had been filled at the Barboursville pharmacy, owned by Kofi Ohene Agyekum, 37.
Agyekum pleaded guilty last year to banking crimes committed with money from illegal drug sales.
U.S. District Chief Judge Robert Chambers, in Huntington, sentenced him to five years in prison and Agyekum agreed to forfeit $2.3 million and a Lexus luxury vehicle to the federal government.
The former pharmacy owner admitted that he deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars from his pharmacy in amounts less than $10,000 in multiple bank accounts at multiple banks to avoid reporting requirements. Federal laws require the reporting of cash transactions of more than $10,000 to authorities.
Meade had also been indicted on a money laundering charge, but it was dismissed as part of a deal he made with federal prosecutors.
For a year, beginning in January 2010, Meade admitted that Lester Taylor would acquire oxycodone pills in Florida and send or deliver them to him in West Virginia for distribution.
After Meade sold the pills, he would deposit the proceeds into bank accounts in Barboursville and Huntington for Taylor to withdraw in Florida. For example, during a three-month period in 2010, Meade deposited $149,500 into one of Taylor's accounts.
Taylor sent 15 priority overnight packages containing oxycodone pills to Meade between May 17, 2010 and Jan. 8, 2011. Law enforcement intercepted the last package, which contained 1,000 30-milligram oxycodone pills.
Taylor was sentenced last November by U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver Jr. to spend 120 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston on Tuesday went a bit below what federal advisory sentencing guidelines recommended for Meade, which was a prison term between 151 and 188 months.
Johnston also didn't impose a fine on Meade. Guidelines had suggested Meade be ordered to pay anywhere between $15,000 and $1 million.
Meade had been set to be sentenced last January, but Johnston delayed it so he could find out more about Meade's lengthy criminal history.
Meade has been convicted of grand larceny, breaking and entering, and in 1994 was found guilty of attempted murder in Cabell County, among other charges, according to a report from an inmate records supervisor that was filed in federal court.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723, or @KateLWhite on Twitter.