PIKEVILLE – A Magoffin County man was sentenced to over 14 years in prison in a federal drug case on Monday.
On September 23, in federal court in Pikeville, Gregory Howard, 52, of Salyersville, was sentenced to 160 months in prison on the charge of distributing a quantity of oxycodone, which he pleaded guilty to in February. Additionally, Howard was sentenced to 12 months for violating his probation in an earlier case, giving him a total sentence of 172 months, or 14 years and 4 months.
On February 13, 2024, Howard entered a guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward B. Atkins in Pikeville federal court, waiving his right to rearraignment in the presence of a U.S. District Judge and consenting to the magistrate judge accepting the plea. Judge Atkins entered a recommendation that Howard’s guilty plea be accepted and he be adjudged guilty.
Within the signed agreement, Howard pleaded guilty to Count 17 of the indictment, which was a charge of distributing a quantity of pills containing oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance.
According to the plea deal, Howard agreed that he knowingly and intentionally distributed pills containing oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, and that he knew at the time of distribution that the substance was a controlled substance.
The U.S. argues that they could prove the following facts that establish the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt:
– Between, on or about March 2022 and August 17, 2023, Howard regularly obtained oxycodone polls from multiple suppliers and worked together with others to distribute those polls in Magoffin County. Sometimes Howard would use an associate to deliver the pills, while at other times he would reportedly sell them directly from his home on Bloomington Road.
– On or about August 3, 2023, law enforcement used a confidential informant to make a controlled purchase of oxycodone polls from Howard at his residence, with the informant paying $520 to Howard and Howard providing the informant with about four oxycodone 20 mg tablets and about one oxycodone 30 mg tablet. During the transaction, Howard reportedly told the informant he had a “couple hundred oxycodone 20 mg and 30 mg pills, but that amount was not for him.”
– The controlled purchase on August 3, 2023, was one of 13 controlled buys that law enforcement made from Howard at his residence. Police also made three controlled purchase from Howard’s associate, two of which also occurred at Howard’s residence.
– Between March 2022 and August 2023, law enforcement searched Howard’s home twice, with police seizing $14,540 during one raid, and $23,170 during the second, with the currency seized in both instances belonging to Howard and was the proceeds from the distribution of oxycodone.
At the time of the indictment, Greg Howard was on probation for a 2017 conviction on the charge of possession with intent to distribute a quantity of pills containing hydrocodone.
In December 2017, Howard was sentenced (via a plea deal) to 36 months in prison, running concurrently with the 12 months he received for violating probation in his 2013 federal drug case, as well as six years of probation, running concurrently with three years he received for violating his probation in the earlier case.
Howard is currently in custody at the Grayson County Detention Center.
Howard’s co-defendant, Jesse Murrell, Jr., 54, also of Salyersville, was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment and three years supervised release after taking a plea deal on the charge of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone pills. At press time, he is being held at the Beckley federal prison.
