United States of America v. Maurice Kelly Johnson, aka “Reese"

Huntington, West Virginia, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of firearm by a convicted felon.

On May 22, 2025, Johnson provided a Smith & Wesson model M&P Shield M2.0 9mm pistol that was sold to a confidential informant in Huntington. As part of his guilty plea, Maurice Kelly Johnson, also known as “Reese,” 58, of Huntington, admitted to possessing the firearm and to providing it to co-defendant Earl Michael Myers, who conducted the transaction.

Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Johnson knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of his prior felony convictions for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base on November 23, 1999, and conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base on September 4, 1992, both in United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Johnson and Myers are among several individuals indicted by a federal grand jury on charges alleging they conspired to distribute fentanyl, cocaine base, and methamphetamine in the Huntington area from at least in and around March 2025 to in and around August 2025.

Myers, also known as “Mike,” 45, of Huntington, pleaded guilty on January 6, 2026, to distribution of cocaine base and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4, 2026. Co-defendant Erin Leigh Keeney, 41, of Huntington, pleaded guilty on December 15, 2025, to distribution of carfentanil and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2026. Two other individuals were indicted separately as a result of the same investigation including Donovan Dewayne Pauley, 20, of Huntington, who pleaded guilty on October 27, 2025, to possession of a short-barreled shotgun not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 9, 2026.

The charges again the remaining defendants are 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.

Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, at least three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.