Louisa man pleads guilty in federal case

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Lawrence County man who was indicted with 17 others in July by a federal grand jury for their roles in a drug-trafficking organization in Huntington, W.Va., pleaded guilty Oct. 14 and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18, 2022.

Leonard Brandon Joe Rice, 35, of Louisa, pleaded guilty to using a communication facility to facilitate a felony drug offense.

The indictment says that Rice was one of the individuals that allegedly distributed and/or assisted in the distribution of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base (crack), oxycodone and heroin in the Huntington area and other locations in West Virginia.

Rice admitted in his plea agreement that on May 24, he used a telephone to arrange the purchase of fentanyl in Huntington and that he traveled from Louisa to Huntington, where he received the fentanyl.

When Rice returned to Louisa, he was stopped by a Kentucky State Police trooper, who seized the fentanyl .

Rice also admitted that he had received fentanyl in Huntington from the beginning of 2020 through July of this year and had redistributed some of the fentanyl he purchased in Huntington to other individuals in Louisa.

Rice faces up to four years in federal prison.