A Gastonia, North Carolina man has been locked up for peddling poison in the streets of Charleston. Adam Denson, 29, was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison after admitting to multiple heroin sales in May 2015, marking another conviction in the federal crackdown on the opioid scourge tearing through West Virginia.
Denson pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of heroin, with U.S. Attorney Carol Casto confirming the sentence handed down in federal court. The charges stem from a series of controlled buys where Denson sold heroin to a confidential informant working directly with law enforcement — one of those transactions occurring on May 14, 2015, at Little Page Terrace, a long-troubled public housing complex known for open-air drug activity.
Investigators say Denson didn’t stop at one sale. He admitted to three additional heroin deals with the same informant that same month, flooding more of the deadly drug into a city already buckling under overdose rates. Each exchange fed the epidemic that has left bodies piling up in morgues across the Southern District of West Virginia.
The takedown was led by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), a multi-agency task force built to dismantle drug networks operating in high-crime zones. Their work led to Denson’s arrest, prosecution, and now, his federal conviction — a reminder that even out-of-state dealers aren’t safe from West Virginia’s dragnet.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Haley Bunn prosecuted the case with a relentless focus, pushing for accountability in a region where too many dealers slip through the cracks. U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the 18-month sentence, sending a message that trafficking into West Virginia comes with federal consequences.
This case is part of a broader, ongoing push by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to choke off the supply of heroin and illegal prescription pills. Working alongside federal, state, and local forces, they’re targeting trafficking rings, shutting down street-level markets, and fighting to reclaim communities drowning in addiction and death.
Related Federal Cases
- Gastonia Heroin Dealer Denson Admits to Federal Crime · North Carolina
- Denson Pleads Guilty · North Carolina
- Beckley Heroin Dealer Gets 27 Months · West Virginia
- Charleston Heroin Dealer Groom Gets 58 Months · West Virginia
- Detroit Heroin Dealer Gets 6.5 Years in WV · Michigan
Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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