Kody D. Harless, a 28-year-old resident of Tomahawk, Kentucky, was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. The sentencing took place on March 2, 2026.
Court records show that on August 15, 2023, Harless received about 4.75 grams of fentanyl from another individual in Huntington, West Virginia. Law enforcement stopped the vehicle he was traveling in after the transaction and seized the drugs. Harless admitted during his guilty plea that he had arranged to purchase the fentanyl beforehand and intended to distribute part of it.
Harless also acknowledged his involvement in a conspiracy to receive and distribute both fentanyl and methamphetamine within the Southern District of West Virginia. He stated that between July and November 2023, he regularly obtained these substances from contacts in Huntington and transported them to Kentucky for distribution.
He is one of 27 people indicted as part of an alleged drug trafficking organization accused of distributing large amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Huntington area. While Harless and another co-defendant pleaded guilty to separate charges, twenty-three others pleaded guilty under the main indictment. Charges against other defendants are still pending. The indictment is an allegation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
United States Attorney Moore Capito announced the sentence and recognized several agencies for their investigative efforts: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cabell County Sheriff’s Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), West Virginia State Police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. MDENT includes officers from multiple local police departments.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph F. Adams and Stephanie Taylor prosecuted the case.
The investigation was conducted as part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, which aims to disrupt major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations through coordinated federal, state, and local law enforcement efforts.
Further information can be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia or by searching PACER for Case No. 3:24-cr-7.
