CHARLESTON A Boone County man pleaded guilty to a federal gun crime Monday, February 27.
According to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Johnston, 42-year-old Troy Wilson Wheatley, of Boone County, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
On August 30, 2021, law enforcement officers responded to reports of a shooting at Wheatley’s residence near Chapmanville. Officers encountered Wheatley and seized a 9mm Ruger, and .22-caliber Smith & Wesson pistols. According to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, one firearm was in a holster on Wheatley’s hip and the other was in his back pocket.
Wheatley admitted to possessing the firearms and further admitted to the officers that he had discharged a firearm when his nephew drove past the residence that morning.
Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Wheatley was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of his prior felony conviction for delivery of a controlled substance in Nicholas County Circuit Court on February 3, 2006.
Wheatley is scheduled to be sentenced on June 22 in federal court. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.