The former mayor of Pratt, Gary Fields, admitted Thursday in federal court that he sold powerful prescription painkillers to a confidential informant.
Fields, 68, pleaded guilty in Charleston to distribution of oxycodone. He admitted to selling six 15-milligram oxycodone pills to an informant on April 23.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but if U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Johnston accepts a deal Fields made with prosecutors, he will be sentenced to three years' probation, according to a plea agreement filed in the case. That sentencing is set for Jan. 21.
According to a stipulation of facts to which Fields agreed, members of the Kanawha Sheriff's Office used a confidential informant on April 23 to travel to Fields' home in Pratt and purchase six pills. The agreement is also signed by Fields' attorney, Christian Capece, and Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Haley Bunn.
Fields was indicted on June 3, about a week before he lost his reelection bid. He had said that he would step down as mayor win or lose, but received only three votes compared to then-councilman Eric Holcomb's 78.
In August 2013, Fields was arrested and charged with simple possession after prescription pills were allegedly found in the city-owned vehicle he was driving during a traffic stop. In November 2014, he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance after police pulled him over in Chesapeake.
Until earlier this year, Fields had resisted calls for his resignation. In 2014, a three-judge panel appointed by the state Supreme Court declined to remove him from office after townspeople filed a petition asking that he be thrown out.
The federal case against Fields is part of an ongoing effort by U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's office to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin, a release from Goodwin's office states.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.