Ohio resident pleads guilty in shooting case
Nov. 15—huntington, w.va. — Austin Bruce Jeffreys, 28, of Chesapeake, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to crimes arising from a drug-related June 2021 shootout in Huntington.
According to court records, Jeffreys spoke by phone on June 14, 2021, with an inmate at Western Regional Jail. The calls were recorded. The inmate asked Jeffreys to go to a Huntington residence and retrieve a quantity of suboxone that belonged to the inmate, but was in the possession of another person. Jeffreys admitted that he told the inmate he would be carrying a loaded Bersa Thunder .380-caliber Combat pistol while retrieving the drugs.
When Jeffreys and another individual arrived at the Huntington residence, a shootout occurred before Jeffreys could recover the drugs. After the shooting, Jeffreys made another recorded phone call with the inmate and admitted to his role in the shooting.
Several days later, Jeffreys was arrested and once again admitted to his role in the shooting and that he knew the drugs he tried to recover were intended for distribution.
Jeffreys pleaded guilty to using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 13 and faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine.
The inmate, Jacob Benjamin Loper, 21, pleaded guilty to attempted possession with intent to distribute suboxone and conspiracy to use a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Loper was sentenced to two years and six months in prison on May 9, 2022.
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huntington, w.va. — Gary McComas, 27, of Chesapeake, Ohio, was sentenced Monday to five months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.
According to court records, McComas admitted that he obtained multiple money orders in the Huntington area to help an individual in California evade financial reporting requirements.
Federal law requires financial institutions to report certain information to the Department of the Treasury whenever a person exchanges cash for a money order in the amount of $3,000 in one transaction or a series of transactions. On June 28, 2018, McComas obtained six money orders, each for $500, from three different Huntington businesses for the purpose of evading financial reporting requirements.
McComas further admitted to conducting approximately 200 money order transactions totaling $99,400 in and around Huntington for the same purpose between June 28, 2018, and Jan. 13, 2019.
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huntington, w.va. — Joseph Curtis Hubman, 50, of Henderson, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for possession of prepubescent child pornography. Hubman must also register as a sex offender.
According to court records, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Nov. 11, 2020, at Hubman's Henderson residence. Officers recovered multiple external hard drives, mobile phones, two desktop computers and a micro SD memory card.
A forensic analysis of the devices revealed more than 18,000 videos depicting child pornography. Hubman admitted that he possessed the child pornography, and that it included videos of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
