FAYETTEVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A woman was sentenced Monday for crimes relating to a drug operation being run out of an Oak Hill residence.
According to reports from the Office of the Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney, on January 11, 2021, a confidential information working alongside the Central West Virginia Drug and Violent Crime Task Force set up a purchase of a controlled substance through a Herbert Byers.
Upon meeting, the informant was asked by Byers for transport to another location to purchase the controlled substance.
The informant drove Byers to the residence of Rhonda A. Cross and her step-father Jessie J. Perry and returned shortly after with what was purported to be heroin.
Undercover law officers who observed the preceding obtained a search warrant for the residence, and conducted a search which revealed what appeared to be heroin, digital scales, and over $4000 in US currency found within.
Upon laboratory testing, the substance was revealed to be a mixture of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Cross and her step-father were both determined to have been involved in the illegal distribution of drugs from the residence.
Perry received a maximum 11 year sentence in prison on October 24, 2022 for his role in these crimes.
Byers plead guilty on September 29, 2022, to delivery of a controlled substance and currently awaits sentencing.
Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Ciliberti Jr. reports that on Monday, November 7, 2022 Rhonda A. Cross, 39 of Page, WV, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Thomas H. Ewing to no fewer than 3 and no more than 15 years in prison for the felony crime of possession of fentanyl with intent to deliver, as well as 10 years in prison for the felony crime of conspiracy.
Judge Ewing has ordered that the sentences be served consecutively, effectively resulting in a “functional 25 year sentence” for the defendant.
Cross plead guilty to the crimes in question on August 18, 2022, and just serve a minimum of 5 years and 3 months in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
These crimes were investigated by the Central West Virginia Drug and Violent Crime Task Force along with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.
The case was prosecuted by Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Ciliberti Jr.
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