Ohiopyle man sentenced on drug charges
An Ohiopyle man was sentenced to spend 240 months in a federal prison for running a crack cocaine ring that funneled drugs from Fayette County into West Virginia. Blair R. Jones Jr., 49, will serve the 20-year sentence for running a continuing criminal enterprise, and then must serve five years of supervised release under the sentence imposed Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Irene M. Kelley. She is a judge for the Northern District of West Virginia in Clarksburg, where charges against Jones were filed.
Jones, the son of Uniontown city councilman Blair Jones Sr. and charged as the leader of the drug ring, pleaded guilty in the case earlier this year, and agreed to forfeit his Wharton Township home as part of the deal. Fayette County’s tax assessment Web site values the trailer, built in 1980 and purchased by Jones in 1994, at $24,760.
Federal prosecutors took the property under allegations that he used the property to further his drug enterprise.
Last October, a Wheeling, W.Va. grand jury indicted Jones and several others for transporting and selling drugs between the Ohiopyle area and Monogalia County, W.Va. starting in 1990.
The indictment alleged those charged participated in the distribution of 5 kilograms of cocaine and 50 grams of crack cocaine. The indictment said Jones served in “the position of organizer, a supervisory position, and position of management,” and indicated he “obtained substantial income and resources” from the criminal enterprise.
In addition to Jones, five other Fayette County residents were charged: Mary C. Chrise, 49, and Nichole L. Chrise, 25, both of 743 Dinner Bell-Ohiopyle Road, Ohiopyle; Derrick W. Chrise, 26, of Markleysburg; Alan Luccioni, 50, of 1219 Connellsville Road, Lemont Furnace, and John Burkland of Lemont Furnace.
Authorities also charged Carl “Tiny” Jenkins of West Virginia and Boston Reid Sims Jr. Sims died in prison in March.
Everyone but Derrick W. Chrise has entered guilty pleas to various different counts of the indictment, and have received significantly less jail time than Jones.
Jenkins and Mary Chrise were sentenced to 70 months in prison, Burkland received a 24-month sentence and Luccioni will spend one year and one day behind bars. Nichole Chrise received three years’ probation.
Jones has been in federal custody since last July, when he was arrested on a different matter. Charges in that case were dismissed when the new indictment was handed down in October 2005.