Mark L. Flint, II, 35, of Wheeling, West Virginia, is staring down a federal prison sentence after being indicted on a charge of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm. The accusation, handed down by a federal grand jury, centers on a .40 semi-automatic pistol allegedly found in his possession in May 2020 in Ohio County — a weapon he had no legal right to carry.
Flint, already prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior criminal history, now faces up to 10 years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted. Federal authorities stress that the charge isn’t a minor paperwork error — it’s a serious violation of U.S. law with real consequences for public safety.
The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Wheeling Police Department, who gathered evidence pointing to Flint’s illegal possession. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danae DeMasi-Lemon is prosecuting the case, building a straightforward but hard-hitting argument under federal gun statutes.
In a separate but equally serious case, Marquise Hicks, 26, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was indicted on one count of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Offense. Hicks allegedly had a 9mm pistol while trafficking marijuana in Monongalia County in August 2019 — a move that escalates a drug charge into a federal weapons prosecution.
Hicks faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The ATF and the Monongalia County Probation Office handled the investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley leading the prosecution. Possessing a gun during drug trafficking is treated as a high-risk offense in federal courts, designed to stem the tide of armed narcotics operations.
An indictment is not a conviction — both Flint and Hicks are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But in the unforgiving arena of federal prosecution, the charges alone signal a relentless push by U.S. Attorney Bill Powell’s office to crack down on illegal firearms in West Virginia. The cases serve as a warning: federal guns laws don’t forgive, and they don’t forget.
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Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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