(Court Reports - Photo Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

CHARLESTON — A Parkersburg man was sentenced to prison Monday for his role in a drug trafficking organization in Charleston, federal officials said.

Anthony Michael Mowery, 48, was sentenced to nine years to be followed by four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine and for violating supervised release, Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston said.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from about January 2024 to about May 2024, Mowery conspired with others in a drug trafficking organization that distributed methamphetamine in the Charleston area. Mowery facilitated meetings during which his co-conspirators exchanged large quantities of methamphetamine for distribution, Johnston said.

On May 5, 2024, Mowery arranged for co-conspirator Michael Dale Cain to travel to Charleston for the purpose of picking up approximately 3 pounds of methamphetamine from another co-conspirator, Kirt Ray King, that Cain intended to transport to Parkersburg and distribute to others. After Cain acquired the methamphetamine, he was stopped by law enforcement officers who searched his vehicle, seized the methamphetamine, and arrested Cain, Johnston said.

Mowery has a long criminal history that includes prior convictions for unlawful assault, assault, battery, child abuse, destruction of property, and fleeing from an officer. At the time of this offense, Mowery was serving a term of supervised release as a result of his July 5, 2018, conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Today’s sentence includes two years in prison, to run concurrently to the nine-year sentence imposed by the court, for committing a crime while on supervised release, Johnston said.

Mowery is among four individuals indicted by a federal grand jury in the conspiracy. All four pleaded guilty. Cain, 49, of Parkersburg, was sentenced on Jan. 29 to eight years and one month in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. King, 48, of Charleston, pleaded guilty on Jan. 27, to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23, 2025. Co-defendant John Wayne Harkless, 46, of Charleston, pleaded guilty on Nov. 20 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23.

Johnston commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentences. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy B. Wolfe prosecuted the case.

The investigation was part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy. The task force combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.