Berkeley County man sentenced for role in drug trafficking enterprise

 MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – John Suffare Beavers, II, of Hedgesville, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 30 months of incarceration for his role in a drug distribution enterprise, Acting United States Attorney Randolph J. Bernard announced.

Beavers, 34, pled guilty in April 2021 to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Heroin, Fentanyl, Cocaine Base, and Cocaine Hydrochloride” and three counts of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Heroin and Fentanyl.”  Beavers admitted to working with others to sell cocaine hydrochloride, cocaine base, heroin, and fentanyl from June 2019 to October 2020 in Berkeley County and elsewhere.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The FBI; the Department of Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; the West Virginia State Police; the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; and the West Virginia Air National Guard investigated. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Kent County Sheriff’s Office assisted.

These charges are the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) under the Attorney General-led Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS)/Special Operations Division (SOD) Project Clean Sweep.  This initiative seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids in “hot spot” areas previously identified by the Attorney General of the United States, thereby reducing drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths, and identify wholesale distribution networks and sources of supply operating nationally and internationally. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.