CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRES – Jasper Wemh, 38, of Charleston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, admitting to a role in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that operated in the Charleston area.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Wemh admitted to conspiring with several other people to distribute methamphetamine for several months prior to December 5, 2022. Wemh obtained methamphetamine from his supplier on consignment and often provided methamphetamine to his customers on consignment, know they were redistributing the methamphetamine he sold them.
Wemh further admitted to obtaining several pounds of methamphetamine from his supplier on December 3, 2022. Wemh distributed the methamphetamine to multiple customers and paid his supplier $250,000 over time from the proceeds from distributing the supplier’s methamphetamine.
Wemh also admitted to conspiring with other people to distribute cocaine base, also known as “crack,” that he received from his supplier on occasions prior to December 3, 2022. Wemh stored quantities of methamphetamine, crack and cocaine at a Greenbrier Street residence in Charleston. Wemh admitted that he frequently obtained these drugs from a safe in the residence, and that a pistol was kept in that safe as well.
Wemh is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20, 2023 and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life in prison, five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $10 million fine.
Wemh is among 30 individuals indicted as a result of Operation Smoke and Mirrors, a major drug trafficking investigation that has yielded the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history. Law enforcement has seized of well over 200 pounds of methamphetamine as well as 28 pounds of cocaine, 20 pounds of fentanyl, 18 firearms and $747,000 in cash.
Co-defendant Larry Wayne Legg, 55, of Charleston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on March 6, 2023. Another co-defendant, Justin Allen Bowen, 40, of Charleston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine on February 23, 2023. The remaining defendants are scheduled for trial. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard Counter Drug program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office. MDENT is composed of the Charleston Police Department, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Nitro Police Department, the St. Albans Police Department and the South Charleston Police Department.
Chief United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Wolfe is prosecuting the case.