Two West Virginia women are behind bars after pleading guilty to fueling an underground oxycodone pipeline that pulsed through Monongalia County in March 2017. Amanda Gifford, 26, of Morgantown, and Brandy Miller, 29, of Salem, were sentenced today to a combined 61 months in federal prison for their roles in using cell phones to coordinate illegal drug transactions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Gifford, who admitted to using a communication facility to push oxycodone, was handed a 46-month sentence. Her crimes, rooted in the early days of 2017, were methodical—leveraging mobile technology to help distribute highly addictive prescription pills across northern West Virginia. She pleaded guilty in November 2017 to one count of Unlawful Use of Communication Facility, a charge that often targets the logistical backbone of drug networks.
Miller, also 29 and from Harrison County, received a 15-month sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge. Court records show she used her phone not to sell directly, but to assist others in moving oxycodone, functioning as a connective node in the distribution chain. Her cooperation or lack thereof wasn’t disclosed, but the shorter sentence suggests a secondary, though still critical, role.
The takedown was led by the Mon Metro Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a high-intensity policing unit funded through the federal HIDTA program. With boots on the ground and surveillance resources, the task force zeroed in on the network during a period when opioid-related deaths in West Virginia were spiking to record highs. Their investigation peeled back layers of encrypted calls and burner phones to nail down the women’s involvement.
Funding for the probe came in part from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF), a federal engine that powers multi-agency crackdowns on major drug rings. The program’s involvement signals federal authorities viewed this not as isolated dealing, but as part of a broader, coordinated operation worth national attention and resources.
Sentencing was delivered by Senior U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley in Clarksburg. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley prosecuted, underscoring the government’s push to dismantle even mid-level nodes in the opioid supply chain. With over five years of prison time served collectively, Gifford and Miller are now part of West Virginia’s grim opioid reckoning—one text, one call, one pill at a time.
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Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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