PHILIPPI, W.Va. (WV News) — A Philippi drug dealer on Friday admitted to a three-time felon petition filed against him by Barbour County Prosecutor Thomas Hoxie.
Through attorney Bill Adams of Morgantown, Shawn Douglas Newman requested to be sentenced at a later date by Barbour Circuit Judge Shawn D. Nines. The court ordered Probation Officer Jennifer Freeman to conduct a presentence investigation.
If Nines finds the three charges meet the state Supreme Court’s balancing test for a lifetime recidivist finding, Newman, 36, would face a life sentence with parole eligibility in 15 years.
A sentencing date has yet to be set, but the hearing likely will be held this fall, Hoxie said.
Newman was convicted in 2017 and “given an alternative sentence. He then, while on his alternative sentence, continued to sell methamphetamine, and we convicted him again for that. That was his second charge,” Hoxie said.
“Then he went to prison on those two charges. After he discharged, he came out and he continued to sell methamphetamine ... he stated in his confession that he was selling over $5,000 worth of meth per week. So he was one of the biggest meth dealers in the county,” Hoxie said.
Newman pleaded guilty last Nov. 4 to felony possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, Hoxie said. The crime occurred June 8, 2021.
Newman previously was convicted of conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine Aug. 16, 2017, with the crime occurring Nov. 11, 2016; and possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine on Jan. 26, 2018, for a crime that occurred Sept. 3, 2017.
The Mountain Region Drug Task Force investigated the latest case, Hoxie said. It involved multiple controlled buys at a South Main Street, Philippi, apartment, according to the criminal complaint. Later, agents from the Drug Task Force, along with Barbour deputies, Philippi police and state troopers, raided the apartment, finding nearly $6,000 in cash near Newman, according to the complaint. The state also established about 80 grams of relevant methamphetamine conduct against Newman, according to Hoxie.
For Newman, the main benefit of not going to trial was that the state dismissed the other nine counts of the indictment. Had Newman gone to trial and been convicted of all 10 meth counts, he could have faced 18 or more years on top of a sentence of 15 years to life.