Berkeley County man sentenced for role in drug conspiracy

 MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Medo Hallack, of Inwood, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 70 months of incarceration for his role in a drug conspiracy that spanned several states, Acting U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard announced.

Hallack, 32, pleaded guilty in May 2021 to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Cocaine Hydrochloride.” Hallack admitted to working with another to sell cocaine hydrochloride, also known as “coke,” in August and September 2019 in Berkeley County. Hallack received a sentencing enhancement for firearms possession and violence. During the execution of search warrant for drug activity, he allegedly fired at officers and was engaged in a 45-minute standoff with law enforcement.

This case is the result of investigations supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) under the Attorney General-led Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS)/Special Operations Division (SOD) Project Clean Sweep.  This initiative seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids in “hot spot” areas previously identified by the Attorney General of the United States, thereby reducing drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths, and identify wholesale distribution networks and sources of supply operating nationally and internationally. 

 

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Lydia Lehman, also with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. 

Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.