Bluefield Kingpins Plead Guilty to Federal Drug Charges

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin dropped a bombshell today, announcing that four men pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in Bluefield.

Joshua Blevins, 30, of Bluefield, admitted using a phone to facilitate a felony on Nov. 21, 2014, setting up a drug deal with a confidential informant, followed by the distribution of oxymorphone. The 30-year-old faces up to four years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Marcus Edwards, 40, from Bluefield, pleaded guilty to distributing hydromorphone on Aug. 25, 2014. He’s looking at up to 20 years and a $1 million fine.

Leonard Carey Rucker, 44, of Princeton, WV, was caught red-handed distributing heroin to an informant in Princeton on Nov. 4, 2014. His sentence could be 20 years and a million dollars in fines.

Carl E. Howard, Jr., also known as ‘Preacher,’ at 62 from Princeton, WV, pleaded guilty to distributing hydromorphone to an informant in Princeton on July 8, 2014. He too is facing 20 years and $1 million in fines.

All four are set for sentencing on June 25, 2015, with Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber presiding over the plea hearings.

The Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force investigated these cases, while Assistant United States Attorney John File handled the prosecutions. The Bluefield Pill Initiative is at play here, a component of the ongoing battle against heroin and opiate painkillers’ illicit sale in the Southern District of West Virginia.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is joined by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in this relentless pursuit of drug traffickers.