Feds: Somerset County man admits role in West Virginia cocaine-heroin ring
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A Somerset County man could receive a 20-year federal prison sentence and be fined $1 million when he is sentenced this summer after admitting this week to participating his role in a drug trafficking ring in West Virginia, authorities said.
Lance Smith, 47, of Confluence, admitted to his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy in the Monongalia County area near Morgantown that distributed cocaine and heroin in the area for more than two years, said Randolph J. Bernard, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine base, Bernard said. Cocaine base is also known as crack cocaine.
According to Bernard, Smith admitted to working with others to distribute heroin and cocaine in the region from March 2018 to September 2020.
Under federal sentencing laws, Smith faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million when he is sentenced later this year in federal court in Wheeling, W.Va., but the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Online court dockets in Pennsylvania indicate Smith has no prior criminal conviction in Somerset County.