United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced last Thursday that two Ronceverte men appeared in federal court in Beckley before the Honorable Irene C. Berger. Jeffrey S. Walton, 48, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for abusive sexual contact with a female federal inmate. Walton pled guilty in April of 2014, admitting that in May or June of 2013, he touched the breasts of an inmate at the Federal Prison Camp at Alderson. At the time of the incident, Walton was employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was acting as the inmate’s work supervisor. Walton is no longer a Bureau of Prisons employee. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Adam Ray Smith, 26, pled guilty to distribution of heroin. Smith admitted that on Aug. 30, 2013, he distributed heroin to a person cooperating with law enforcement authorities. The transaction took place near Ronceverte. Smith further admitted that he distributed about 1,000 packets of heroin, totaling about 48 grams, in Greenbrier County between May 2013 and August 2013. Smith faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine when he is sentenced on Nov. 13. The case was investigated by the Greenbrier Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force under the Greenbrier County Heroin and Pill Initiative. That initiative is part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the sale of heroin and the illicit sale of prescription drugs in communities across the Southern District. Assistant United States Attorney John File handled both cases.
