ABINGDON — A former Pennington Gap police officer who was arrested last year by federal authorities pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Abingdon Tuesday to distributing prescription drugs.
John Charles Kelly, 39, of Pennington Gap, pleaded guilty to a single count of distribution of hydrocodone.
Kelly faces a potential maximum sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment and a potential $500,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Timothy Heaphy said the charge against Kelly stemmed from a July 2012 incident.
Heaphy said Kelly was socializing with two females at his Pennington Gap home when he gave them approximately 20 hydrocodone pills.
Kelly was reportedly on duty when he distributed the pills.
The investigation into Kelly's actions was carried out by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Virginia State Police, the Southwest Virginia Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Lee is prosecuting the case.
Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced May 31 at 10 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.
Kelly was the second member of the Pennington Gap Police Department to be arrested on drug charges in 2012.
Former Pennington Gap Police Chief William Bryan Young pleaded guilty in January to charges of distributing narcotics while in duty and orchestrating the robbery of the town's Rite Aid Pharmacy.