Monongalia County woman admits to drug charge

 CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Candis Sanders, of Morgantown, West Virginia, has admitted to a drug charge, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Sanders, 38, pled guilty to one count of “Unlawful Use of Communication Facility.” Sanders admitted to using a phone to distribute a controlled substance in March 2020 in Monongalia County.

Sanders faces up to four years of incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

These charges are the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy.  Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mon Metro Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.