St. Paul, Va., Postmaster Arrested On Drug Charges

By Daniel Gilbert
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: July 3, 2008

GLADE SPRING, Va. – A coordinated law enforcement sting operation has led to federal drug charges against a local United States postmaster, and charges are pending against other people, authorities said Wednesday.

Janet Davenport, a Glade Spring resident and the postmaster of St. Paul, Va., was charged last week with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, according to federal court documents. She is free on an unsecured $10,000 bond.

The documents describe an investigation aided by a confidential source who is “an admitted member of the drug culture,” and who made several drug buys over two months that were supervised by law enforcement.

The operation – which involved, local, state and federal authorities – focused on Davenport and a longtime female friend of hers.

No charges have been filed against the friend, but Glade Spring Police Chief Matthew Mullins said Wednesday that charges would be forthcoming against her and several other adults.

“We are still waiting for some stuff to come back,” he said.

Davenport’s friend is addicted to oxycodone, according to an affidavit by a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency. She sells the prescription drug she obtains from Davenport and returns the proceeds to Davenport.

“[The friend] has the key(s) to ‘Janet’s’ residence,” wrote special agent Brian Snedeker. “Sometimes ‘Janet’ leaves her hydrocodone tablets in her home and tells [her friend] to just stop by, let herself in, and pick up the tablets.”

The purchases took place at the friend’s residence, where Davenport would show up with a prescription of oxycodone for her friend to sell.

Federal authorities searched Davenport’s residence on June 24 and found a bottle of prescription hydrocodone. When questioned, Davenport told investigators that she and her friend had been “trading” pills for about two years, and that her friend sells hydrocodone tablets for $7 each.

Investigators asked Davenport three times how much money her friend had given her for the pills, but Davenport did not respond and “stared at the floor.” She asked if she needed a lawyer.

“The interview was terminated at that time,” Snedeker wrote.

Chief Mullins described the friend’s home as a “health hazard,” with five or six cats and between three and five dogs suffering from fleas and mange. He has notified animal control officers, he said.

Court records in Washington County, Va., show that the friend was convicted in 2007 on a slew of animal neglect charges, ranging from no county dog tags to no rabies shots to letting the dogs run at large.

She received no jail time for the misdemeanors, and paid $115 in fines and court costs.

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