Kenneth Stover, Felon in Possession of Firearms, West Virginia 2017

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kenneth Stover, 43, of Dunbar, stood before a federal judge and admitted to illegally possessing firearms — a crime that could land him behind bars for a decade. Stover pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms, a charge that hits hard in West Virginia’s ongoing battle against violent crime and illegal gun use.

The arrest unfolded on August 31, 2017, when detectives from the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT) raided Stover’s 18th Street home following repeated citizen complaints of drug activity. Inside his bedroom, officers found two loaded firearms. For Stover, a convicted felon, that single discovery sealed his fate under federal law.

Stover’s criminal history dates back to 2004, when he was convicted of conspiracy to operate a clandestine drug laboratory in Putnam County. That conviction stripped him of the right to possess any firearms — a rule he ignored at his peril. The weapons recovered during the 2017 search were not collector’s items; they were functional, accessible, and dangerously in the hands of a man with a violent past.

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart, who announced the guilty plea, credited the collaborative takedown to MDENT and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “This is exactly how Project Safe Neighborhoods is supposed to work,” Stuart said. “We’re targeting the most dangerous offenders before they commit more serious crimes.”

Stover now faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he’s sentenced on July 24, 2019. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua C. Hanks is handling the prosecution. There will be no plea deals, no diversions — just a courtroom reckoning for a man who chose to break one of the federal justice system’s clearest laws.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the DOJ’s flagship initiative to slash violent crime through targeted enforcement and local partnerships. PSN prioritizes dismantling criminal networks and locking up repeat offenders — exactly the profile Stover fits. As federal prosecutors push forward, the message is clear: in West Virginia, felons with guns will be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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