A Charleston man was sentenced Monday to spend two years and eight months in federal prison for selling heroin at area motels.
Antonio Tarvares Johnson, 39, who previously pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to distribution of heroin, admitted that on multiple occasions last year, he sold heroin to confidential informants working with police.
On Sept. 28, 2015, Johnson sold heroin at the Motel 6 in Cross Lanes, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Carol Casto's office.
Johnson also admitted that on Nov. 9, 2015, he sold heroin to a confidential informant at America's Best Value Inn in St. Albans. Police arrested Johnson after that drug deal and found $6,000 in cash in his pocket and wallet. The release states that $100 of that money was prerecorded buy money from the November 2015 controlled purchase.
As part of the deal Johnson made with prosecutors, he also admitted to selling drugs to a confidential informant on Sept. 29, 2015 and Dec. 16, 2015.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston handed down Johnson's sentence.
Johnson has faced a long list of drug charges in Kanawha County Circuit Court, beginning in 2000, according to court documents. In 2011, as part of a deal, Johnson pleaded guilty in Kanawha Circuit Court to possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Prosecutors, in turn, dismissed three other drug and conspiracy charges Johnson was facing.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey sentenced Johnson to spend between one and 15 years in prison, but suspended the prison sentence and instead had Johnson serve between one and 15 years on home confinement.
Johnson violated the conditions of home confinement in 2013 and Bailey revoked the alternative sentence and ordered Johnson to serve the sentence behind bars, court documents show. The judge gave Johnson credit for 711 days he had spent on home confinement.
An official certificate of discharge from the West Virginia Parole Board was filed on his behalf June 1, 2015.