Augusta County man sentenced to 12 years in prison for dealing meth
STAUNTON — A Churchville man has been sentenced to a dozen years in prison after being caught last year dealing large quantities of methamphetamine.
Casey B. Wilcher, 40, recently pleaded guilty in Augusta County Circuit Court to possession of methamphetamine with intent distribute, along with two gun charges.
Authorities arrested Wilcher in January 2023. A grand jury indicted him a year later on six felony charges. Three of the charges were not pursued.
Augusta County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Kyle Powers said undercover investigators orchestrated a controlled drug purchase with Wilcher, and said an informant also gave authorities information about his operation before his arrest on Jan. 9, 2023.
On that day, Wilcher was observed standing near a back shed on his property on John Deere Lane, and Powers said that's when authorities made their move to arrest him. As they searched his home, Powers said Wilcher informed investigators he was was about to make a sale and admitted to having a lone gram of meth. Wilcher, who seemingly panicked, then asked investigators to immediately leave because he was willing to work undercover for them and provide information, according to Powers. He said if they didn't leave, they were going to blow his "cover."
After Powers said investigators told Wilcher "that's not how this works," they searched his home before walking back toward the shed. Wilcher, Powers said, immediately began vomiting. Inside the shed, they found 773 grams of meth, more than 1.7 pounds, along with some guns. Authorities also confiscated small amounts of cocaine, psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana, according to court records.
Powers said the meth bust was much larger than what investigators typically encounter in Augusta County. "Usually what we see around here is between 50 and 500 grams," the prosecutor said.
Wilcher is a lifelong resident of the area, and had been a supervisor for a phone company prior to his arrest, court records state.
Wicher's attorney, Andrew Graves, said it was a tough case. He described Wilcher as a working man and father who got caught up in drugs.
"He battled addiction and the demons that come with that," Graves said. "We are thankful that we worked out a sentence that avoided the substantially more severe penalties which come with the mandatory minimums."
Three additional drug charges were not prosecuted in exchange for Wilcher's guilty pleas.
He'd been scheduled for an arraignment in Augusta County Circuit Court on July 25 in anticipation of a jury trial scheduled for later this month. However, Wilcher instead pleaded guilty to the meth and gun charges. He was sentenced to eight years for dealing meth, along with four additional years on the two gun charges, giving him a 12-year sentence.
Wilcher remains at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona. He will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.
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Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta County man sentenced to prison for dealing meth
