By Emily Rice
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, W. Va. — Two inmates at the Federal Correction Institution at McDowell on Sept. 5 were sentenced on weapon charges, according to U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart.
Stuart said the two inmates, Marlon Briceno, 32 and Bryan Casey, 32 were found with handcrafted weapons commonly known as “shanks.”
“Two more prisoners and two more shanks,” Stuart said in a press release. “Shanks pose a threat to other inmates and prison staff. The only thing you get with a shank is a longer prison sentence.”
Stuart said Briceno was sentenced to 15 months in prison for possessing a weapon in the prison after pleading guilty in April. He admitted to possession of the weapon on Oct. 7, 2017 when a staff member at the prison found the weapon in his shoe.
Stuart said Casey was sentenced to 15 months in prison for possessing the shank in the prison after pleading guilty in April. A staff member found the weapon in his pants pocket during a search on Nov. 11, 2017.
Both Briceno’s and Casey’s sentences will run consecutively to the sentence each are presently serving.
The cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney John File and Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Faber imposed the sentences.