Point Marion man sentenced to prison for interstate drug trafficking ring
A Fayette County man is one of nearly two dozen people who have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their roles in a multi-state drug trafficking ring that led to their indictment in northern West Virginia more than two years ago.
James Elli was sentenced Wednesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh to serve 79 months in prison after pleading guilty last year to one federal charge for the drug trafficking operation that stretched from Philadelphia to Detroit.
Elli, 43, of Point Marion, pleaded guilty Dec. 18 at the federal courthouse in Clarksburg, W.Va., to one count of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine for his role in the trafficking scheme in June 2023, according to federal court documents. He and 23 other defendants were indicted in February 2024.
Rex Jenkins, 34, of Southfield, Mich., was also sentenced Wednesday and will face 124 months in prison after he was convicted by a federal jury in March 2025.
Federal prosecutors in northern West Virginia said Elli and Jenkins were part of a larger drug trafficking operation based in Philadelphia that was selling methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine in Morgantown.The drug amounts between the two men totaled more than 43 grams of fentanyl, 126 grams of methamphetamine and more than four grams of cocaine, prosecutors said.
So far, 20 out of the two dozen defendants involved in the interstate scheme have been sentenced, mostly to lengthy prison terms.
Elli’s defense attorney, Scott Brown, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda Wesley prosecuted the case on behalf of the federal government.