BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Tomahawk, Kentucky, man was sentenced March 2 to nearly nine years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl.
Kody D. Harless, 28, received a sentence of eight years and 10 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Harless received approximately 4.75 grams of fentanyl from an individual in Huntington on Aug. 15, 2023. After the transaction, a law enforcement officer conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle in which Harless was traveling and seized the fentanyl.
As part of his guilty plea, Harless admitted he arranged the purchase beforehand and intended to distribute some of the drug.
Harless also admitted participating in a conspiracy to receive fentanyl and methamphetamine in the Southern District of West Virginia for distribution. He told investigators he took part in the conspiracy from at least July 2023 through November 2023, regularly receiving methamphetamine and fentanyl from individuals in the Huntington area and transporting the drugs to Kentucky where he distributed them.
Harless is among 27 individuals indicted in a case alleging they participated in a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Huntington area.
Federal prosecutors said Harless and another co-defendant pleaded guilty to separate charges in lieu of the offenses alleged in the indictment. Twenty-three defendants have pleaded guilty in the main indictment, while charges against the remaining defendants remain pending.
Harless has a long history of drug-related arrests dating back nearly a decade. His first arrest came in 2017, when he was 18 and charged with methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol offenses in Martin County. In May 2020, he was arrested for possession of meth, trafficking a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and selling a controlled substance to a minor.
In July 2020, he pleaded guilty to fleeing police and possession of a controlled substance. He was granted a one-year diversion and ordered to complete inpatient treatment for substance abuse. In September 2020, he was indicted in Martin County on drug trafficking charges.
Harless pleaded guilty to first-degree trafficking of heroin in May 2021 and received a three-year sentence. He was placed on supervised parole or probation in December 2021. In June 2022, he was arrested again, this time for trafficking marijuana, and in September 2022 he pleaded guilty to a first-degree meth-related charge.
In November 2022, Harless was arrested during a traffic stop in Colegrove, Ohio, where police reported finding an ounce of methamphetamine, multiple baggies of suspected fentanyl, digital scales and other items associated with drug distribution.
His probation was revoked in February 2023, and he was ordered to serve 90 days of in-home incarceration.
Harless was arrested again in April 2023 on charges of heroin possession, importing carfentanil, fentanyl or fentanyl derivatives, and possessing a prescription controlled substance not in its proper container. He was indicted on those charges in July 2023.
In November 2023, Harless was arrested for first-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of marijuana, third-degree possession of a controlled substance (drug unspecified) and first-degree possession of a controlled substance (opiates) in Johnson County. In December 2023, he was sentenced on those charges. He began serving a five-year prison term at the Lee Adjustment Center, where he entered state custody Dec. 17, 2023.