Federal court sentences Hagerstown man who led W.Va. drug trafficking conspiracy

Julie E. Greene, The Herald-Mail
·2 min read

A Hagerstown man was sentenced Tuesday for his role in a drug trafficking operation in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Kirk Leon Grantham, 45, was sentenced to four years and 9 months in federal prison for distributing a mixture of fentanyl and heroin in Berkeley County, according to U.S. District Court records and a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.

Grantham was the leader of a conspiracy to traffic cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, the release states.

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He worked with others in Berkeley and Jefferson counties in the Eastern Panhandle.

Three of his co-defendants also have been sentenced. They are:

  • Julian Demont Pace, 48, of Bunker Hill, W.Va., who was sentenced to three years and five months.

  • Ronald Lee Jackson, 36, of Martinsburg, W.Va., who was sentenced to a year and three months.

  • William Brown, 75, of Martinsburg, who was sentenced to three years of probation.

Pace, Jackson and Brown have prior drug trafficking convictions, the release states.

In March, Grantham pleaded guilty to distributing a fentanyl and heroin mixture in Berkeley County around Jan. 4, 2022, according to court records.

On that charge, per the plea agreement, Grantham faced up to 20 years, a $1 million fine and at least three years of supervised release.

Other charges in the case, including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine hydrochloride and cocaine base, were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Also dismissed were charges related to using a phone in Berkeley County to arrange distribution of a mixture containing Xanax and mixtures containing cocaine, according to federal court records.

The FBI and the Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force investigated the case.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown man sentenced in W.Va. drug trafficking case