Three men plead guilty in separate federal court cases

The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
·2 min read

Oct. 7—Michael Henderson, 34, of Michigan, pleaded guilty on Friday to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

According to court records, law enforcement officers conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle in which Henderson was a passenger in downtown Charleston on March 3. During the traffic stop, a police K-9 alerted to the presence of controlled substances in a duffel bag belonging to Henderson. Officers searched the bag and found approximately 5 pounds of methamphetamine.

Henderson is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26 and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, five years of supervised release and a $20 million fine.

----Travis John Miller, 39, of Beckley, pleaded guilty Friday to distribution of 5 grams or more of methamphetamine.

According to court records, Miller admitted to selling approximately 26.94 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant at his Beckley residence on Oct. 19, 2021. Miller further admitted to selling quantities of methamphetamine to a confidential informant on Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, 2021.

On Oct. 29, 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Miller's residence and found methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and a Hi-Point .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27 and faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 40 years in prison, four years of supervised release, and a $5 million fine.

----Flaviano Mateos-Hernandez, 45, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty Friday to reentry of a removed alien and was remanded to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation proceedings.

According to court records, ICE agents arrested Mateos-Hernandez in Pineville on June 7 after identifying him in the course of an investigation. Mateos-Hernandez admitted that he was a citizen of Mexico in the United States illegally and that he had been previously deported from the United States.

Mateos-Hernandez had no identification documents permitting him legal status in the United States.

Fingerprints matched Mateos-Hernandez to a prior administrative removal from the United States, which followed his arrest in West Virginia on June 7, 2016. While in West Virginia, Mateos-Hernandez was twice convicted of misdemeanor DUI in Wyoming County Magistrate Court on May 14, 2015, and April 10, 2016.

Mateos-Hernandez also twice agreed to voluntarily return to Mexico following arrests in California on Aug. 15, 2002, and Arizona on April 15, 2009. Mateos-Hernandez never obtained the express consent of the secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the United States, nor did he seek to reenter through other legal means.