CHARLESTON – In less than 10 days, a Braxton County attorney has been disbarred and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for felony possession of a firearm.
Thomas Jason Drake, 48, of Gassaway, pleaded guilty April 18 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. At his August 8 sentencing, he also was fined $7,500, and the U.S. Attorney’s office recommended he be placed in a facility near his Braxton County home.
Drake also will have three years of supervised release after being release from prison. He faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Drake, a lawyer, admitted that he possessed and pawned a Taurus Model G3C 9mm handgun on December 20, 2021, a Winchester Model Grand European XTR .257-caliber rifle on November 22, 2021, and a Colt Model Single Action .45-caliber revolver on December 7, 2021, at Charleston businesses.
Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Drake knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of a 2012 felony conviction for embezzlement in Kanawha Circuit Court. As part of his sentencing, Drake also must forfeit the three guns.
His sentencing came just over a week after a West Virginia Supreme Court order annulled Drake’s law license.
The state Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel had filed a petition seeking the annulment on April 19, a day after Drake pleaded guilty in federal court. Drake filed a document May 15 consenting to his disbarment, and the Supreme Court reviewed the matter July 23.
The federal government’s sentencing memorandum filed in July provides details of Drake’s plea agreement. It shows he purchased the Taurus pistol in 2021 at Bridgeport Equipment and Tool in Charleston. On the purchase paperwork, Drake falsely denied having previously been convicted of a felony offense.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said it had evidence of two other firearms purchased by Drake at Cabela’s in which he also falsely denied having the previous felony conviction. Those two firearms were not located by ATF in this investigation.
Drake admitted possession the pawned firearms, but he said he didn’t like modern firearms. Instead, he said he liked curio and relics, saying he had obtained a license from ATF to possess such firearms. But his ATF application also falsely stated he didn’t have the previous felony conviction.
When asked about falsifying these applications, Drake said some of the firearms fell into “a gray area,” which is what the federal sentence memorandum says he also said previously about his embezzlement conviction.
“Drake’s continued conduct shows a deliberate attempt to circumvent the law,” the memorandum states. “He attempts to avoid the consequences of his actions by claiming that his conduct does not fit neatly into a violation of the law.
“Drake’s status as a licensed attorney only increases the egregiousness of his conduct. During the time that he was committing the criminal conduct in this case, he was actively petitioning for reinstatement of law license.”
Drake’s 2012 embezzlement conviction stemmed from him improperly taking funds from a trust account to which he had been appointed trustee. He was disbarred in October 2012 following that offense, and his reinstatement was granted January 6, 2022.
The federal sentencing memorandum says Drake suffers from acute encephalopathy and seizure disorder, a previous mild heart attack, hypoxic encephalopathy and a history of bipolar disorder, anxiety and possible long-term depression. It says he also appears to have potential nerve damage and indications of Multiple Sclerosis.
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew J. Tessman, Gabriel Price and Nowles Heinrich prosecuted the case.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:24-cr-64; West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number 24-219
