A 32-year-old Wheeling, West Virginia man was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison on July 10, 2026, closing out a drug trafficking prosecution that stretched from Cleveland, Ohio into the Ohio Valley, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Joshua Carney was the last defendant to be sentenced in the operation. He was convicted on multiple counts, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin, and distributing 5 grams or more of methamphetamine.
The methamphetamine charge carried an added dimension: the distribution took place within the protected zone surrounding an elementary school, a boundary set at 1,000 feet under federal law, according to the Justice Department.
U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced the sentence.