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Steubenville, Weirton men indicted on drug conspiracy charges

WHEELING –Eight people are facing charges of distributing heroin, cocaine, “crack” cocaine, and fentanyl after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Wheeling earlier this week, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced Friday evening.

“Whether you live in another state or not, engaging in federal criminal conduct in the Northern District of West Virginia will get you prosecuted,” Powell said in announcing the indictments.

The 24-count indictment alleges heroin, cocaine, “crack” cocaine, and fentanyl distribution in Hancock County and elsewhere which allegedly occurred from February 2018 to July 2019.

Those named in the indictment are:

¯ Robert Leon Sullivan, 55, of Steubenville.

¯ Antonio Dewayne Brown, 35, of Weirton.

¯ Michael Bernard Barnett, 43, of Steubenville.

¯ Ryan Thomas Savage, 36, of Wintersville.

¯ Rolland Kwame Owens, 29, of Steubenville.

¯ Rashaan Donell Mukes, 33, of Steubenville.

¯ Shannon Terill Loveless, 41, of Steubenville.

¯ Zjaondezel Solomyn Douglas, 35, of Zelienople.

“The men and women of the DEA, working alongside our law enforcement partners, are committed to making communities like Weirton safer by getting rid of illegal drugs, and locking up those who traffic them,” said D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Louisville Field Division, which oversees the agency’s operations in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danae DeMasi-Lemon and Robert H. McWilliams, Jr. are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Marshall County Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; The Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crimes task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the Jefferson County, Ohio, Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force; the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office; the Brooke County Sheriff’s Office; the Weirton Police Department; and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Police investigated.

The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.

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