CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two Charleston residents pleaded guilty today to their roles in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) operating in and around Charleston from January to August 2021. The DTO obtained large quantities of methamphetamine from Ohio and Georgia which was then distributed in and around Charleston.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Jonathan Gregory Bush, 39, admitted to driving from Charleston to Decatur, Georgia, to purchase methamphetamine, which he then distributed to lower-level dealers and users in and around Charleston. On July 19, 2021, law enforcement surveilled Bush and pulled him over near Atlanta, Georgia, after observing him meet with his supplier. Police searched the vehicle and seized approximately 1 kilogram of methamphetamine.
Brittany Frances Gilbert, 33, acknowledged she served as a drug and money courier for co-defendant Brian Dangelo Terry and others. She admitted to traveling to Ohio to pick up drug packages and transporting them to West Virginia. On January 25, 2021, Gilbert was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by police in Jackson County, West Virginia. Police seized approximately 3 pounds of methamphetamine that Gilbert was transporting from Ohio at Terry’s direction. On August 3, 2021, Gilbert along with Terry and another co-defendant, Angie Lane Harbour, were stopped near Cross Lanes while transporting approximately 1 pound of Terry’s methamphetamine from Columbus, Ohio, to Charleston.
Bush and Gilbert each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. They are scheduled to be sentenced on July 28, 2022, and face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine.
This case is part of a long-term investigation of a methamphetamine distribution network that resulted in 17 individuals being charged with various drug and firearms offenses in three separate indictments and one information.
Terry, Harbour, James Edward Bennett, III, Treydan Leon Burks, Kaitlyn Brooke Combs, Kelly Cordle, Denise Marie Cottrill, Shane Kelly Fulkerson, Jason Robert Oxley, and Michael Antonio Smith have also pleaded guilty. Timothy Wayne Dodd was convicted on March 24, 2022, following a two-day jury trial. Scott Edward Hudson, Leo Antoine Smith and Douglas Johnathan Wesley are scheduled for trial on May 24, 2022.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Charleston Police Department, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT).
United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:21-cr-171, 2:21-cr-172, 2:21-cr-211, and 2:22-cr-90.
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