Source: Office of United States Attorneys
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Mark Leslie Lively, 58, of Kenna, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
A federal jury convicted Lively on July 17, 2024, following a two-day trial. Evidence at trial proved that Lively participated in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that operated in the Charleston area from about November 2022 to in or about March 2023. Members of the DTO conspiracy commonly obtained their controlled substances on consignment, paying their suppliers with proceeds from distributing them to customers. On February 2, 2023, law enforcement officers watched Funderburk and Lively meet in an alley near Washington Street West in Charleston, where Funderburk provided approximately 138 grams of methamphetamine to Lively.
As Lively drove away from the meeting place, a law enforcement officer conducted a traffic stop of Lively’s vehicle and requested the assistance of a police K-9 unit. The police K-9 alerted to the presence of controlled substances in the vehicle. The officer searched Lively’s vehicle and seized the methamphetamine hidden underneath the dashboard.
The evidence at trial established that Lively intended to distribute the methamphetamine that he received from Funderburk.
Lively has a long criminal history that now includes 34 criminal convictions, with at least eight of those prior convictions for felony offenses.
“The defendant is a hardened criminal who has shown time and again that if he is on the streets, he is committing crimes,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “After decades of failing to curb his lawlessness, he participated in a large-scale drug trafficking organization that caused untold harm to the community. Today’s sentence will spare the community further harm by this defendant for an extended period of time.”
Lively and Funderburk are among 31 individuals convicted as a result of Operation Smoke and Mirrors, a major drug trafficking investigation that has yielded the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history. Law enforcement seized well over 400 pounds of methamphetamine as well as 40 pounds of cocaine, 3 pounds of fentanyl, 19 firearms and $935,000 in cash.
Funderburk, 39, of Charleston, was sentenced on October 3, 2024, to 13 years and six months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute a quantity of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute a quantity of fentanyl, and for violating supervised release. Funderburk is among 30 of the defendants who pleaded guilty.
Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard Counter Drug program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office. MDENT is composed of the Charleston Police Department, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Nitro Police Department, the St. Albans Police Department and the South Charleston Police Department.
United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy B. Wolfe prosecuted the case.
The investigation was part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy. OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.
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. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:23-cr-31.
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