By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — Enough fentanyl to kill 12 million people — seven times West Virginia’s population – was among the contraband seized in Mercer County during one of the largest fentanyl drug busts in the state’s history, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Thursday while announcing major initiatives against drug-related crime and for strengthening immigration enforcement.
Members of Mercer County’s law enforcement community, Prosecuting Attorney Brian K. Cochran and Sheriff Alan Christian, joined Gov. Morrisey and representatives of the West Virginia State Police for a press conference streamed live from Charleston.
“Thank you everyone and it’s terrific to be here today. We have some really big news,” Morrisey said as he stood behind a lectern with the sign Law and Order. “At the beginning of my administration, I pledged to work hand-in-hand with President Donald Trump and his administration to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. As many of you know, when I served as attorney general, I repeatedly focused on the fact that West Virginia was a border state when it came to the immigration problem because we saw so much illicit fentanyl and drugs flood into our state.”
How much fentanyl reaches West Virginia was illustrated when Morrisey announced what he called a major fentanyl bust in Mercer County, one of the largest in the state’s history.
The amounts of seized narcotics included 54 pounds of suspected fentanyl, enough to kill over 12 million people, which is West Virginia’s population seven times over, Morrisey said.
Other narcotics and items found during this major bust included 70 pounds of suspected crystal meth, 23 pounds of marijuana, 15 firearms and three brick presses. The estimated street value of the fentanyl alone is $825,000.
The bust was executed on Sept. 10 by the West Virginia State Police, the Southern Regional Drug Task Force and the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
“Thanks to the incredible work of our law enforcement officers, these dangerous drugs were kept off our streets,” Morrisey said. “This was a months-long investigation that shows how serious our drug crisis is and how aggressively we’re fighting back.”
Superintendent of State Police James L. Mitchell said his agency was dedicated to addressing the state’s problem with fentanyl and other narcotics. Enlarged photos of the drugs seized during the bust were brought out to show the public and the media.
“Every day our troopers – and I’m proud of every single one of them – they worked so hard and every single one of them who is responsible for what you see in front of you are not here today,” Mitchell said. “But it’s the deputies, it’s the city police officers that work on task forces with us, that labor alongside of us, we couldn’t do it without them, either. So many of them are not able to be here because of the nature of their work, but we appreciate them so very much; but today, this is an example of what we’re doing. Every day, the officers in our state are demonstrating pride and dedication, duty to their communities. Oftentimes it goes unnoticed, but I appreciate their commitment.”
Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Brian K. Cochran spoke about the law enforcement community’s work in southern West Virginia.
“When I walked in here today I saw one thing that’s really impressive,” Cochran said as he took a look at the lectern’s sign. “Law and Order. And that’s what we appreciate about Gov. Morrisey. “I’ll be prosecuting this case in the next six months to a year, so I can’t really talk about the facts in the case, but I can talk about the officers who were involved. Our task force led by the state police, Colonel Mitchell and his group of men, include the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department – Alan Christian is the sheriff of Mercer County – it includes the Bluefield Police Department in Mercer County, Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department and the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department.”
“And these guys worked together with my office. They’re in constant communication with my office. I just really appreciate their hard work and the danger they are involved in every single day,” he said.
Cochran said the major fentanyl bust did not reflect the character of Mercer County’s residents.
“Finally, Mercer County is made up of 60,000 people, and the great majority of Mercer County people are good, honest, hardworking people,” he said. “So I don’t want this to reflect too negatively on the people of Mercer County because there’s just a very, very small percentage of people in Mercer County who are committing these crimes and those are the people that we’re after.”
Morrisey said that there were some limitations from his previous job as attorney general on what he could say about the drug bust case.
“You always have to know that everyone is entitled to due process, so we’re not going to comment in a matter that would implicate the case,” he said.
In addition to the drug bust, the governor announced that the West Virginia State Police, in coordination with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has apprehended 37 illegal immigrants in the past 11 days.
Twenty-seven arrests were made at traffic stops along the West Virginia Turnpike and 10 were made at DUI checkpoints, Morrisey said. These arrests were made starting Sept. 21.
“These arrests happened in just 11 days,” he said. “This is proof that the problem is far more widespread than some want to admit.”
Morrisey said that every state, including West Virginia, has felt the impact of the border crisis and reiterated the state’s commitment to law and order. Earlier this year, he signed an executive order directing the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, West Virginia State Police and Division of Corrections to fully cooperate with ICE and implement President Trump’s immigration enforcement directives.
“At the beginning of my administration, I made a promise to work with President Donald Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem, and the Trump Administration to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” he said. “Under President Biden, we saw millions of people unlawfully enter this country, undermining our rule of law, endangering our communities, and fueling the drug crisis that has devastated West Virginia.”
Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia Acting Field Office Director, David C. O’Neil said that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia, to include the West Virginia sub-office, is proud to highlight the continued success of the 287(g) partnership with state and local authorities.
“West Virginia’s law enforcement community has demonstrated exceptional professionalism and steadfast cooperation, allowing specially trained officers to identify and process removable aliens who enter local custody for a wide range of criminal offenses,” O’Neill said. “This collaboration has measurably strengthened public safety by ensuring that those individuals that pose a threat to West Virginia residents can be transferred to ICE custody via a safe and secure custodial transfer and subsequently removed from the United States.”
Morrisey also provided updates on the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which has played a role in supporting ICE. Since January, more than a thousand immigration detainees have been processed through West Virginia’s corrections system, he said. Since Aug. 12 this year, 355 detainees have been booked through the state’s corrections and rehabilitation facilities.
