U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin handed out awards Thursday to law enforcement officers and those involved in assisting victims.
Goodwin named the Charleston Police Department the police agency of the year, and the Crime Victim Service Award was presented to both Cpl. Anthony Craigo of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office and State Police Sgt. Talia Divita.
Judge James J. Rowe was presented with the award of excellence in criminal justice innovation and improvement, according to information provided by Goodwin's office.
Prestera Center for Mental Health Services and Western Regional Day Report Center were both named the criminal justice initiative partners of the year.
Goodwin also handed out awards to law enforcement officers involved in outstanding federal investigations.
Among others honored for their work on outstanding drug and violent crime investigations, officers who participated in the case of Willie Slocum Jr., a Detroit man convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute heroin and oxycodone, being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with a witness, were recognized.
Slocum ran his drug trafficking organization from Detroit to West Virginia while on parole for a 1999 murder conviction in Michigan, according to a February news release from Goodwin's office. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Also, among other cases, Goodwin presented awards to those involved in the "Barcliffe and associates" cases. Beginning in the fall of 2011, Robert Barcliff and his associates conspired and agreed to commit armed home-invasion robberies of drug dealers in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The group targeted drug dealers because they believed it unlikely they would call the police.
Police involved with the case, which resulted in John D. Hayes being convicted of attempted distribution and possession of child pornography, were recognized as winners of the outstanding project safe childhood investigation award. Those involved in the outstanding fraud investigation by Goodwin include officials who worked on the case involving two men who ran a fraudulent timeshare scheme.