Sep. 22—A former parole officer with the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation was arrested Thursday after being charged in federal court with civil rights violations, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators.

Anthony DeMetro, 44, was charged in a seven-count indictment unsealed Thursday, with five counts of acting under color of law to deprive individuals of their civil rights, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of false statements to federal investigators.

The indictment alleges that while DeMetro was acting in his official capacity as a parole officer, he sexually assaulted two victims on a total of five separate occasions. The indictment further alleges that DeMetro lied to a state investigator and to federal investigators about his sexual misconduct.

If convicted, DeMetro faces maximum penalties of life imprisonment on three of the civil rights counts, 20 years on the obstruction of justice count, five years on the false statements count and one year on each of the remaining civil rights counts.

----Laura Danielle Jackson, 32, of Hurricane, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identify theft.

According to court records, Jackson was working at a South Charleston business on Sept. 17, 2018, when she obtained the personal identification information of an individual who applied for employment there. Between Sept. 18, 2018, and Sept. 27, 2018, Jackson applied for and received two separate credit cards with this individual's stolen information and had the fraudulent credit cards mailed to her Hurricane residence. Jackson admitted that she activated the cards and purchased $10,626.70 in goods, merchandise and other items of value with them.

Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19 and faces a maximum penalty of 42 years in prison, six years of supervised release and a $750,000 fine.

----Two men were sentenced to prison for roles in a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine in Kanawha County, with one also sentenced for participating in a foiled Fourth of July 2021 murder scheme.

Ramon David Alston, 42, of Decatur, Ga., was sentenced Thursday to 12 years and six months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of methamphetamine.

Brian Dangelo Terry, 37, of Charleston was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of methamphetamine and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court records, from 2020 until at least Sept. 28, 2021, Alston sold 1-pound and multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine from his Georgia residence to individuals including co-defendants from Charleston, W.Va. Alston admitted that he knew these customers intended to distribute methamphetamine in the Southern District of West Virginia.

Alston further admitted that co-defendants Terry and Jonathan Gregory Bush visited his residence separately on July 19, 2021, and that he sold Bush a kilogram of methamphetamine. Bush was later stopped by police and arrested after being found in possession of the methamphetamine. Alston admitted to having sold approximately 6 pounds of methamphetamine to Terry over the course of the DTO conspiracy.

Terry admitted to obtaining methamphetamine from Alston as well as from sources in Columbus, Ohio, for distribution in and around Charleston. Terry distributed more than 16 pounds of methamphetamine between March 2019 and Aug. 3, 2021.

Terry and co-defendant Treydan Leon Burks along with others pooled their money in order to obtain the drugs, used couriers to transport drugs and drug proceeds, and distributed the drugs to lower-level dealers and users.

Terry further admitted that he, Burks and co-defendants James Edward Bennett and Douglas Jonathan Wesley armed themselves at a Rand residence on July 4, 2021, and drove to Charleston's West Side with the intent to murder someone. Alerted to the plot, police in marked cruisers converged on the area. The four men abandoned their vehicle in a Washington Street parking lot due to the increased police presence. Federal agents executed a search warrant on the vehicle and recovered four loaded firearms, including a Spike's Tactical, Model SL15, .223-caliber pistol.

Terry was aware that he was prohibited from possessing a firearm following felony convictions for malicious wounding on Feb. 25, 2005, and possession with intent to deliver marijuana on March 8, 2011, both in Kanawha County Circuit Court.