Charleston Man Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI in Prep Academy Scam

Daniel Andrew Hicks, 43, of Charleston, West Virginia, stood before federal investigators and lied straight to their faces — and now he’s headed for a federal prison cell. Hicks pleaded guilty today to making a materially false statement to an FBI agent during a probe into the collapse of the West Virginia Prep Academy, a so-called college prep school that promised student-athletes football and basketball scholarships that never materialized.

When FBI agents served Hicks with a federal grand jury target letter in 2013, he claimed under oath that he “did not get a dime” from anyone tied to the Prep Academy. That lie didn’t hold. Hicks later admitted he deposited a check from a student’s mother into the school’s bank account — and kept the money even after the student never enrolled. As part of his plea deal, Hicks agreed to pay $11,808.59 in restitution to 23 defrauded individuals.

But that’s not where Hicks’ criminal trail ends. In a separate case, he already pleaded guilty to federal heroin distribution charges. Between January and February 2016, Hicks sold heroin multiple times to a confidential informant working with law enforcement. On February 18, 2016, he was arrested with nearly five grams of heroin on his person — ready to sell. That same day, a search of his South Charleston apartment at 112 Henson Avenue turned up $4,924 in cash stuffed in a shoebox on the kitchen counter, along with three digital scales and three cell phones used to facilitate drug deals.

Now, Hicks is staring down up to 25 years behind bars. He faces a maximum of five years for lying to the FBI and up to 20 years for distributing heroin. Both sentences will be handed down in a consolidated hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston on April 4, 2017.

The Prep Academy investigation was a joint effort by the FBI and the South Charleston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith George Thomas and John File are prosecuting the false statement charge. The heroin case was led by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica D. Coleman handling prosecution.

This takedown is part of a broader crackdown by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia targeting heroin trafficking and opioid abuse. With federal, state, and local agencies locked in, the push is to dismantle drug networks, shut down street-level dealers, and stop the flood of pills and heroin poisoning communities across the region. Hicks’ double-barreled conviction — fraud and felony narcotics — is exactly the kind of one-two punch they’re aiming for.

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