Clay County resident, Raymond Hersman, was sentenced to twenty years in prison this week after being found guilty of possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of the drug methamphetamine in May. Evidence at Hersman’s trial proved that on September 22, 2012, Hersman possessed and intended to distribute approximately 400 grams of meth near Gauley Bridge in Fayette County. Further evidence proved that Hersman was running a methamphetamine trafficking ring from North Carolina to West Virginia.
Law enforcement agents began investigating Hersman’s suspected meth distribution scheme in and around Clay County in August 2012. At the time, Cpl. Marshall Bailey and Trooper Eric Workman from the West Virginia State Police were brought into the investigation. Troopers Bailey and Workman, both of whom patrolled the Clay County area, provided details to fellow law enforcement agents, according to a news release, which outlined Hersman’s methamphetamine operation in August 2012. The information provided by Bailey and Workman assisted the investigation and culminated with the sentencing of Hersman this week.
“This is perhaps the last investigation on which the late Trooper Eric Workman and the late Corporal Marshall Bailey worked,” said U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. “The work of these heroes paid off yet again with another bad guy behind bars.”