FAYETTEVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Fayette County man was sentenced to prison last week for crimes relating to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
According to Anthony Ciliberti, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney for Fayette County, on July 7, 2023, Samuel J. Pozzie, age 33, of Glen Jean, West Virginia, plead guilty to the felony crime of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine.
Pozzie elected for sentencing to occur immediately following the entering of the guilty plea, and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Paul M. Blake, Jr. to two to thirty years in prison.
In imposing this sentence, Judge Blake reportedly doubled the possible penalty due to Pozzie’s prior drug related felony conviction for which he was on parole at the time of his arrest. Pozzie must serve a minimum of two years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
On February 8, 2023, an officer with the Oak Hill Police Department reportedly conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for a registration violation.
Pozzie, a passenger inside this vehicle, was determined to be the owner of a backpack found inside the vehicle upon a search being conducted. This backpack reportedly contained personal documents, multiple baggies of a crystal-like substance, and a pill bottle containing a quantity of suspected fentanyl in the floorboard of the back seat.
Pozzie’s name could be observed in documents found within the backpack. The West Virginia State Police Forensic Lab later confirmed the crystal-like substance to be methamphetamine and the suspected fentanyl to be a mixture of both fentanyl and methamphetamine.
This crime was investigated by the Oak Hill Police Department and the case was prosecuted by Fayette County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sarah F. Smith.
