Former “America’s Most Wanted” Fugitive Sentenced for His Role in Multi-State Drug Trafficking Operation

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - One of the leaders in a larger drug trafficking operation in the Eastern Panhandle has been sentenced in federal court, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey.

Samuel Rose, 53, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, will serve 190 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a cocaine distribution charge. Rose, one of 35 defendants in an investigation that spanned multiple states, resided in Berkeley County, West Virginia at the time of the investigation. Rose was distributing large quantities of cocaine, cocaine base, and fentanyl, getting his supply from the operation headquarters "Top 3 Sources," an appliance store and warehouse in Hagerstown. As a part of the illegal operation, drugs were hidden and shipped within appliances. The drugs seized during the investigation amounted to nearly 19 pounds of cocaine, more than two pounds of heroin, and nearly one pound of cocaine base "crack," with a street value of approximately $471,000.

Rose was on supervised release from a prior drug conviction in the Northern District of West Virginia during the commission of the crimes. Rose was a fugitive in this case from the indictment in 2021 and was featured on "America's Most Wanted." Rose was apprehended in 2024 and currently has other drug charges in Pennsylvania pending.

Lenin Luna Mota, the leader of the drug organization, was sentenced to 280 months in October 2025. To date, 33 of the 35 defendants have been convicted and were sentenced to a combined 94 (this number will change once Rose's sentence is determined) years in prison.

Chelsea Nicole Pinkcett, 37, is still wanted in connection to this case by the U.S. Marshal's Service. Find her wanted information here: https://www.usmarshals.gov/what-we-do/fugitive/local/chelsea-nicole-pinkcett.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The FBI; the U.S. Marshals Service; Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the West Virginia Air National Guard; the Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative (agencies included are the West Virginia State Police, Berkeley County Sheriff's Department, Jefferson County Sherriff's Department, Ranson Police Department, Charles Town Police Department, and Martinsburg City Police Department); West Virginia State Police; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Hagerstown Police Department; the National Resources Police Department; FBI-New York Safe Streets Task Force; the New York Police Department; the New Jersey State Police; the Washington County (Maryland) Drug Task Force; the Maryland State Police; the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland; and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania investigated.

Fentanyl has been designated by President Donald Trump as a weapon of mass destruction due to its extreme lethality which poses a grave threat to public safety, even in trace amounts. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.

Find the related case here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/34-indicted-expansive-drug-trafficking-operation