Darnell Marice McCarver, 19 and known as “WAP,” pleaded guilty in early January 2026 to aiding and abetting distribution of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine, admitting a role in a trafficking network that moved meth and fentanyl into the Huntington, West Virginia area.
Darnell Marice McCarver, 19, entered a guilty plea on January 6, 2026, to aiding and abetting the distribution of 50 grams or more of a methamphetamine mixture. The plea acknowledges his part in a broader drug trafficking organization that supplied methamphetamine and fentanyl. Prosecutors say the conduct spanned spring and summer 2025 and implicated multiple participants across state lines.
Court filings state that on August 27, 2025, McCarver arranged a sale of roughly 63.5 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant, coordinating the transaction from Detroit. He admitted communicating with the confidential informant by FaceTime while in Detroit and directing the informant to a residence in Huntington, West Virginia, where another person completed the handoff. McCarver also conceded he organized distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl on several occasions between April 2025 and August 2025, according to his plea.
Authorities executed a search warrant at McCarver’s Detroit home on September 10, 2025, and took him into custody that day. Law enforcement recovered about $4,479 on McCarver’s person during the arrest, and officers seized a large quantity of drugs and cash at the residence. The search yielded approximately 950 grams of methamphetamine, 48 grams of fentanyl, four firearms, and $8,764 in cash.
McCarver admitted in court that he stored drugs at his residence for distribution in the Southern District of West Virginia and elsewhere, and that he possessed the seized methamphetamine and fentanyl with intent to distribute. He also acknowledged that the cash found at the home represented proceeds from drug sales. Those admissions were entered as part of the guilty plea and form the factual basis for the charges.
Sentencing for McCarver is set for April 13, 2026, and the statutory penalties are severe: a mandatory minimum of five years up to a maximum of 40 years in federal prison. He also faces at least four years of supervised release following any prison term, and a fine that could reach $5 million. The plea exposes him to the full range of penalties the statute allows for distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine and related offenses.
McCarver is one of ten defendants who were included in the indictment alleging participation in the drug trafficking organization; he and two co-defendants have pleaded guilty, and charges against the remaining defendants are still pending. 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. The proceedings so far have focused on tracing the supply chain and the communications that tied the Detroit-based activity to deliveries in West Virginia.
United States Attorney Moore Capito announced the case and praised the investigative work by several agencies involved in the probe. The office commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office, the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, and the Huntington Police Department for their roles in the investigation. Those agencies worked jointly to dismantle parts of the network and to collect the evidence that led to the seizures and arrests.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing where the plea was entered, and Assistant United States Attorney Courtney L. Finney is handling the prosecution. The case is being prosecuted as part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Future court dates will address sentencing and any remaining motions in the ongoing prosecutions tied to the indictment.
