Source: Office of United States Attorneys
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Will Thompson announced today that he has concluded his tenure as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, effective immediately.
“Serving as the United States Attorney has genuinely been a career highlight,” Thompson said. “Thinking that a boy who grew up in Boone County, West Virginia, would be able to serve his country in such a prestigious and vital role leaves me in awe. I am proud of the office’s work under my leadership and that my team has strengthened its relationship and reputation with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, as well as with the judiciary and general public.”
Thompson was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., on August 10, 2021. The United States Senate confirmed Thompson by voice vote on October 5, 2021. After taking his oath of office on October 13, 2021, Thompson led an office of 34 attorneys and 41 non-attorney personnel located in offices in Charleston, Huntington, and Beckley.
Thompson appreciates the role that former Senator Joe Manchin played in securing his nomination from President Biden, and the role that Manchin and Senator Shelley Moore Capito played in getting him confirmed by the United States Senate. Thompson also appreciates the relationships he built and strengthened with state officials and the district’s state prosecutors, sheriffs, and chiefs of police.
Thompson commends the Assistant United States Attorneys and support personnel who served with him. He appreciates the career people who there when he entered the office and the employees he hired during his tenure.
“The people of this office are the true backbone of federal prosecution and representation in this district,” Thompson said. “They all serve with dignity and respect for the rule of law. They are vital to the mission of the Department of Justice, which is to keep our communities safe.”
Thompson is most proud of three accomplishments while he was in office. The first is the significant decline in overdose deaths. He attributes that to his office’s change of strategy from targeting street-level drug dealers to mid- and upper-level drug distributors. This strategy has removed hundreds of pounds of this poison from communities throughout the district. His office has disrupted supply chains of fentanyl that were coming directly into the district from China and methamphetamine that was coming directly from the cartels in Mexico. As part of his plan to lower the overdose rates, Thompson also championed prevention and treatment opportunities across the district.
Thompson is also proud of his work in reducing violent crime and overall crime in the district. Thompson attributes this reduction to several factors. He improved communications and relationships with the office’s law enforcement partners. Thompson also worked with state and local partners to obtain federal grants to give them more resources to their jobs more. Finally, given that the majority of crimes in West Virginia are connected to the drug trade, the office’s revised strategy has helped reduce the crime rate.
The third accomplishment that Thompson is proud of is using his skills as a former trial court judge to instigate a vigorous review process of cases to ensure there were no evidentiary issues. Thompson met with law enforcement partners throughout the district and informed them of this new review process. He had his office work more closely with the officers to address the issues, assist with writing search warrants, and help with other search and seizure issues.
As United States Attorney, Thompson was the chief federal law enforcement officer in the southern half of West Virginia. The office is responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the district, including crimes related to terrorism, public corruption, child exploitation, firearms, and narcotics. The office also defends the United States in civil cases and collects debts owed to the United States.
The results of the revised approach to drug cases under Thompson include Operation Smoke and Mirrors, which dismantled a high-volume drug trafficking organization (DTO) that operated in the Charleston area and yielded the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history.
Following the trail of methamphetamine in West Virginia back to Los Angeles, California, and the U.S. southern border, investigators seized well over 400 pounds of methamphetamine, 40 pounds of cocaine, 3 pounds of fentanyl, 19 firearms, and $935,000 in cash. The DTO was directly involved in price fixing in the methamphetamine trade by raising the price of methamphetamine coming into the United States from Mexico based on fluctuations in the currency conversion rate.
Four separate indictments led to the convictions of 31 defendants, including the DTO’s in-state leaders and California-based suppliers. Over 20 defendants have been sentenced to prison, including eight to terms of more than 10 years. Three low-level defendants were referred to the Alternative Treatment Court (ATC). Thompson also supported the ATC program, which provides a blend of treatment that focuses on drug and mental health treatment, and alternative sanctions to effectively address offender behavior, rehabilitation, and education and job skills training.
Thompson also led the prosecution of a Kanawha County man who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl. The defendant set up a workshop in a rented St. Albans apartment were he made fake 30-milligram oxycodone pills. The defendant admitted that the fentanyl came from a source outside the United States and that the pill press came from China. Investigators seized over 10,000 pills and nearly $80,000 in this case.
Thompson’s office also obtained guilty verdicts against a Logan County physician for four counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The defendant had previously pleaded guilty to using a registration number in violation of federal law and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. His medical license and office are subject to forfeit to the government as a result of the latest convictions.
The office under Thompson also secured convictions against the majority of the defendants in prosecutions that dismantled a Huntington-area DTO responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl and a Beckley-area DTO that distributed methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine base, also known as “crack.”
While having the utmost respect for law enforcement officers, Thompson had zero tolerance for officers who break the law and violate people’s civil rights. In what Thompson considered the most critical civil rights case during his tenure, he personally participated in the investigation and prosecution of eight former West Virginia correctional officers who were charged and convicted in connection with a March 1, 2022, assault that resulted in the death of a Southern Regional Jail inmate and the subsequent cover-up. After four days of trial, the final defendant was found guilty on January 27, 2025.
A former Fayette County law enforcement officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution for sex trafficking a 17-year-old minor female and obstructing the resulting investigation. Following four days of trial, a federal jury found the defendant guilty on April 28, 2023, of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor via coercion, sex trafficking of a minor via coercion, and two counts of obstruction of justice.
A former Nicholas County deputy sheriff was convicted of the production of child pornography and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The defendant took two videos of the child victim, who was under the age of 12 and was sleeping on a couch. In the first video, he walked toward her and zoomed in on her buttocks. In the second video, he recorded his exposed penis and him masturbating near the sleeping girl. He then used Snapchat to distribute the videos to multiple users. When Snapchat shut down his account, he created another Snapchat account to distribute child pornography.
A former Logan police officer was sentenced to nine years in prison after a jury convicted him of using excessive force against an arrestee. At the trial, the jury heard evidence that he assaulted the victim in a bathroom, then dragged him into another room and rammed his head against a door frame, leaving the victim unconscious and lying in a pool of his own blood.
The office successfully prosecuted 18 individuals in connection with a scheme to traffic over 140 firearms from southern West Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Over 50 of the firearms were recovered at crime scenes, primarily in Philadelphia, and were connected to two homicides, crimes of domestic violence, and other violent offenses. The ringleader was sentenced to 25 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
The Southern District of West Virginia became a national leader in prosecuting bankruptcy fraud under Thompson’s leadership. Among those cases, a Charleston developer was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $730,326.43 in restitution for falsifying bankruptcy records. The former chief executive officer of the entity that operated the West Virginia Courtesy Patrol was sentenced to five years of federal probation and ordered to pay $205,802.49 for fraudulent receipt of property from a debtor. A Putnam County man was sentenced to 30 days in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, including five months on home detention, and ordered to pay $24,662.56 in restitution for knowingly and fraudulently making a false declaration in a bankruptcy case.
The office successfully prosecuted other forms of white-collar crime under Thompson. A Kentucky businessman pleaded guilty on behalf of himself and two limited liability companies for their roles in the January 2018 discharge of oil into the Big Sandy River. The defendants were sentenced to terms of probation and also ordered to pay $1,856,957.92 in restitution. The LLC defendants cannot conduct or operate any business during their five-year terms of corporate probation.
Nine defendants were convicted in connection with multiple internet-based fraud schemes operated in the Huntington area that defrauded hundreds of individuals across the country. The schemes defrauded at least 200 victims, many of whom are elderly, of at least $2.5 million. The final convicted defendant was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, ordered to pay $904,126.96 in restitution, and participated in a digital awareness campaign to alert West Virginians to online fraud scams.
The office also secured 20 convictions related to COVID-19 benefits fraud under Thompson, with court-ordered restitution and a civil penalty in these cases exceeding $1,330,000.
Under Thompson’s leadership, the office secured a 15-count indictment charging a Kanawha County man with wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction. The indictment alleges the defendant conceived and carried out two real estate-related investment fraud schemes that caused losses of between $395,000 and $434,501.42. The defendant’s mother pleaded guilty late last year to aiding and abetting the sale and offer of unregistered securities as a result of the investigation in this case.
The office also secured an 18-count indictment charging the former maintenance director for Boone County Schools with mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and money laundering. The indictment alleges the defendant used his position to defraud the Boone County Board of Education out of approximately $3,400,000. To date, three other individuals have been charged as a result of this investigation.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Before taking office as United States Attorney, Thompson was a Circuit Court Judge in West Virginia’s 25th Judicial Circuit. He was appointed to that position in 2007 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016. Thompson presided over several treatment courts, including the first family treatment court in West Virginia. Before becoming a Circuit Court Judge, Thompson practiced law at the Cook and Cook law firm in Boone County. There, he focused on litigation, which included representing several hundred indigent clients in criminal defense and other matters. Thompson also previously served as President of Madison Healthcare, Inc. and as Vice President of Danville Lumber Company.
Thompson was born in Charleston and raised in Boone County, West Virginia. He earned a degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
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