MARTINSBURG — A federal judge has sentenced a West Virginia man to prison for trafficking oxycodone in the state’s Eastern Panhandle.
The work is the product of a partnership between West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Acting U.S. Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen.
Michael Ernest Marshall, 34, of Charles Town, received an 8-month prison sentence. He pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute oxycodone in November 2016. He admitted to possessing the drug on June 8, 2016, in Jefferson County.
“We will not tolerate the trafficking of any drugs in our state,” Morrisey said in a press release. “We must work in every way possible to end this epidemic so that our state moves forward and reaches her full potential.”
The partnership, announced in December 2015, involves two lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office serving as special assistant U.S. attorneys. To date, it has yielded eight convictions.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher secured the indictment in September 2016 as part of her dual role as a special assistant U.S. attorney and assistant state attorney general. U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.