Christina Crites, Joseph Muster Cop Meth Charges in Elkins

ELKINS, W.Va. — A pair of Elkins residents have folded under federal pressure, admitting their roles in a methamphetamine distribution scheme that poisoned the streets near protected zones. Christina Crites, 46, and Joseph Muster, 28, both of Elkins, West Virginia, stood before the court today and pleaded guilty to pushing crystal poison in proximity to sensitive areas where children live and play.

Crites copped to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine in Proximity of a Protected Location,” a charge that carries a maximum sentence of forty years in federal prison and a fine of up to $2,000,000. The designation of a protected location — often schools or playgrounds — ratchets up the severity, painting a picture of dealers with no moral boundaries.

Muster, 28, admitted guilt on one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine,” a crime punishable by up to twenty years behind bars and a fine reaching $1,000,000. Federal prosecutors made no deals for leniency; both now face the full weight of the U.S. sentencing machine, where past records and crime severity dictate time served.

The investigation was led by the Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a multi-agency hammer targeting narcotics networks in Appalachia’s struggling corridors. Their work peeled back layers of street-level dealing to land charges against Crites and Muster, whose names now join the growing roster of those busted in the region’s relentless drug war.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the cases, framing them as victories in a broader effort to stanch the flow of meth through West Virginia’s rural towns. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided over the proceedings, with sentencing scheduled for a later date.

The guilty pleas close one chapter, but the damage lingers. Methamphetamine continues to ravage communities like Elkins, where addiction, crime, and poverty feed off each other. For now, two dealers are off the streets — but the epidemic they fed is far from over.

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