DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of West Virginia

For Immediate Release

Thursday, March 7, 2019
Mike Stuart
, United States Attorney

Operation Mountaineer Highway - Fayette County Man Sentenced to Prison for Federal Drug Charges

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Mike Stuart announced today that a Fayette County man was sentenced in federal court on his conviction for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.  Gary Harvey, 48, of Fayetteville, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison.  Harvey was one of the defendants charged in connection with Operation Mountaineer Highway, which resulted in a large scale takedown in September 2018.  Stuart commended the cooperative investigative efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Central West Virginia Drug Task Force, with the support of the West Virginia State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, the Beckley/Raleigh County Drug Task Force, the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, the Fayetteville Police Department, and Oak Hill Police Department. 

“Operation Mountaineer Highway dismantled a multi-state, poly-drug network,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “I am extremely proud of the work of law enforcement throughout the operation and the lasting positive impact it has had on Fayette County and the surrounding area.”

Harvey previously entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.  During the plea hearing, Harvey admitted that in June 2018, he worked with other members of a drug trafficking organization operating in Fayette County to distribute oxycodone pills.  Harvey admitted that he distributed approximately 550 30mg oxycodone tablets to other members of the drug trafficking organization knowing it was the plan of those individuals to resell the pills illegally for profit.      

Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Boggess handled the prosecution. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence.

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Louisville Field Division