Federal prosecutors said the final major defendant in an investigation that dismantled a large volume drug trafficking operation, primarily in the Charleston, Rand and St. Albans areas, has been sentenced. Leo Antoine Smith of Cross Lanes was sentenced Monday to 11 years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to distribute a quantity of methamphetamine, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. All 17 people indicted in connection with the drug trafficking organization have been convicted.
Prosecutors said from March 2019 to September 2021, the drug trafficking organization distributed more than 160 pounds of meth and quantifies of fentanyl and other drugs.