HUNTINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia has announced that Terry Kevin Steele, 41, of Mingo County, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court before U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers to possession with intent to distribute a quantity of oxycodone.

On November 17, 2011, deputies with the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department responded to a robbery complaint at the Super 8 Motel in Huntington. At the time, deputies approached Steele who subsequently consented to a search of his room which he had rented. Law enforcement seized a total of 1,379 oxycodone tablets in varying strengths as well as a .38 caliber revolver.

Steele admitted that he possessed the oxycodone tablets and intended to sell the tablets to individuals in Mingo County.

Steele faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on August 20, 2012.

This case was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, remain committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.

The Cabell County Sheriff’s Department and the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams is in charge of the prosecution.