Man sentenced in overdose death case | News, Sports, Jobs

Christopher Masten, 29, in custody at the North Central Regional Jail, was sentenced by Wood County Circuit Court Judge Jason Wharton to 15 years in prison, with credit for 257 days served, after previously pleading guilty to drug delivery resulting in death. Masten was charged in the April death of Kyle Wigal from a Fentanyl overdose.

“It’s a very sad case today,” Masten’s attorney, Joe Munoz, said Monday afternoon. “Christopher Masten and his family recognize the damage that his contact with the victim caused.

“Mr. Masten just hopes that through his punishment that the healing of this tragic situation can begin,” he said.

Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said Masten would first be eligible for parole after completing a quarter of his sentence. But even if he is granted parole at the first opportunity, Masten would then begin a consecutive sentence of two to 10 years for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, he said.

Masten was also ordered to pay restitution of $17,623.51 to Wigal’s family for funeral expenses, Lefebure said.

As part of his plea agreement, Masten pleaded guilty to having a smaller amount of Fentanyl on the possession with intent to deliver charge — less than 1 gram instead of 5 grams or more — a lesser included offense.

At least two men have previously been charged in Wood County with murder related to providing drugs that caused fatal overdoses. Both of them pleaded guilty to manslaughter, one voluntary and one involuntary.

The charge of drug delivery resulting in death was created by state legislation in 2017. It carries a similar penalty to voluntary manslaughter, Lefebure said.

Also Monday in Wood County Circuit Court:

∫ Jesse Carl Hesson, 24, in custody at the regional jail, was sentenced to 26 to 34 years in prison by Circuit Judge Robert Waters on charges of robbery, child abuse resulting in injury and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Hesson pleaded guilty in October to an information charging him with robbery and the possession charge and entered an Alford plea — in which a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict them without admitting guilt — on the child abuse charge. He was arrested by the Parkersburg Violent Crime and Narcotics Task Force in February.

Criminal complaints filed at the time in Wood County Magistrate Court indicated Hesson and another woman were watching a toddler who sustained multiple injuries, including two black eyes and multiple lacerations to the head. The adults initially blamed the wounds on a dog attack, but an investigation found the injuries were not consistent with that explanation. Witnesses told police both Hesson and the child’s mother had been seen picking him up by his hair, pushing him to the ground and striking him with a kitchen spoon.

∫ William Mitchell, 34, in custody at the regional jail, was sentenced by Wharton to two to 15 years in prison, with credit for 10 days served, after previously pleading guilty to entering without breaking and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. As part of a plea agreement, charges of breaking and entering, conspiracy to commit both breaking and entering and entering without breaking, grand larceny and failure to appear were dismissed.

∫ Ares Matthew Harlan, 31, at the regional jail, was sentenced by Wharton to one to five years in prison, with credit for 92 days served, after pleading guilty in August to manufacture of a controlled substance. Charges of failure to appear and keeping or maintaining a dwelling for the keeping of a controlled substance were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.