Local couple pleads to federal drug charges

By Greg Bird
birdman@tmcvoice.com

Billy and Venia Gosnell, formerly of McCreary County, pled guilty in United States District Court in London last week to charges they conspired to distribute Oxycodone.
The Gosnells agreed to serve 57 months each in federal custody and two years of supervised release following the conclusion of their incarceration according to court documents.
The couple was indicted by a federal Grand Jury last November for “knowingly and intentionally” distributing Oxycodone in McCreary County and elsewhere between 2012 and 2016.
The indictment stated the Gosnells visited out-of state pain clinics, specifically the Tennessee Pain Institute in Hixon, Tennessee, to obtain prescriptions for themselves and others, and subsequently sold those pills.
In addition to the more than four years in prison, the Gosnells agreed to a monetary judgment of more than $248,000.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Rosenburg using evidence obtained through an investigation by the Lake Cumberland Area Drug Task Force.