Huntington police caught two Detroit men red-handed trying to flush 49 grams of heroin down a toilet during a raid on a Sixth Avenue apartment last year. Drevonte Larnielle Patterson, 21, and Christian Vincent Keith Gordon, 22, both pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with intent to distribute heroin, admitting they’d been selling the drug from the same apartment throughout March 2018.
On March 15, 2018, officers executed a search warrant at 156 1/2 Sixth Avenue and found Patterson and Gordon in the bathroom, mid-flush, desperately attempting to destroy evidence. The heroin was recovered, still wet, and both men immediately confessed to distributing the drug in Huntington’s hard-hit drug corridors.
“Detroit drug dealers flushing heroin down the toilet,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Detroit drug dealers have flushed too many lives down the toilet by bringing dangerous drugs into our communities.” His words cut through the stale air of the federal courthouse, underscoring the human cost of the opioid surge rolling through Appalachia.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams as part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.), a federal crackdown targeting high-impact zones flooded with synthetic opioids like fentanyl-laced heroin. The operation has intensified pressure on out-of-state traffickers exploiting West Virginia’s addiction crisis.
Patterson and Gordon now face up to 20 years in federal prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for August 26, 2019, before United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers, who presided over their plea hearings in Huntington.
Law enforcement sources say this arrest is one of dozens tied to interstate heroin networks funneling product from Detroit and other Midwest hubs into rural West Virginia. The Huntington Police Department, praised by federal prosecutors, continues to lead frontline efforts in dismantling these supply chains—one toilet flush at a time.
Related Federal Cases
- Detroit Heroin Dealer Gets 6.5 Years in WV · Michigan
- Huntington Woman Gets 5 Years for Heroin Distribution · West Virginia
- Detroit Man Rasheed T. Latham Gets Prison in Heroin Conspiracy · West Virginia
- Huntington Heroin Dealer Gerald Harris Pleads Guilty · West Virginia
- Detroit Man, Boone Woman Plead Guilty to Heroin Conspiracy · Michigan
Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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