Federal prosecutors say a Hagerstown woman stood up in court Monday and admitted she helped move cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, according to court records. The plea caps a multi-jurisdictional probe that featured a controlled buy and vehicle searches in Berkeley County.
Thirty-one-year-old Elisa Owens of Hagerstown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, while 34-year-old Terrell Antonio Henderson of Halethorpe, Maryland, admitted to aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine base. Investigators say the case grew out of a controlled buy in a Spring Mills parking lot; a search of Henderson’s vehicle turned up buy money, more drugs and paraphernalia, and a separate traffic stop that led to a probable-cause search of Owens’ vehicle produced cocaine. Each defendant now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, with a judge to decide the final punishment after weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, according to Tri-State Alert.
Part of a broader federal crackdown
Prosecutors say the local prosecutions are one piece of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force's investigation that has generated multiple guilty pleas and disrupted trafficking pipelines feeding Berkeley and Jefferson counties. The inquiry pulled together the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, and several local and state task forces in what officials describe as a Baltimore-based trafficking conspiracy. Related guilty pleas were previously detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of West Virginia.
Legal process
Because both defendants chose to plead guilty in federal court, sentencing is now in the hands of a federal judge. Prosecutors point to statutory maximums that could reach about 20 years for each defendant, with the ultimate terms guided by the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the particulars of each case. Those details are laid out in plea agreements and court filings summarized by Tri-State Alert.
Federal and local task force officials say these kinds of coordinated operations remain their best bet for cutting into the flow of fentanyl and meth headed into the Eastern Panhandle. Reporting from WV MetroNews found that task forces in the Northern District seized more than 27 kilograms of fentanyl and 22 kilograms of methamphetamine over the past year, a haul that officials say shows why cross-agency work is not slowing down anytime soon.
