St. Albans resident Ronald Pleasant, 26, is headed to federal prison for five years and 11 months after pleading guilty to distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, a charge that carries steep mandatory minimums under federal law.
The deal went down on December 10, 2019, when Pleasant sold two ounces of meth — nearly double the threshold for the enhanced penalty — to a confidential informant in St. Albans for $1,000 in cash. Court documents lay bare the transaction: a cold, calculated exchange that federal prosecutors say was part of a broader pattern of drug dealing.
Pleasant didn’t stop there. He later admitted to selling meth to the same informant on two additional occasions, confirming his role as a repeat dealer in the underground drug economy of Kanawha County. Authorities moved swiftly, building the case through recorded buys and surveillance.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, led by William S. Thompson, announced the sentence and praised the DEA’s investigative legwork that sealed the conviction. ‘This sentence sends a clear message,’ Thompson stated. ‘Distributing dangerous drugs in our communities will be met with serious federal time.’
U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger handed down the sentence, reflecting both the weight of the drugs involved and Pleasant’s admissions of multiple sales. Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Coleman prosecuted the case, guiding it through the federal docket under Case No. 2:20-cr-00197.
Court records and the official press release remain accessible through the U.S. Attorney’s Office website and PACER, where the full paper trail of Pleasant’s fall from street dealer to federal inmate is now permanently filed.
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Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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