Refugee arrested from Greene County in West Virginia

A Greene County man accused of running an illegal auto repair shop – and who may have ties to Mexican drug cartels – was arrested in West Virginia over the weekend after being on the run for weeks.

Jimmy Lee Butterfield, 43, of Perry Township, was tracked down by Monongalia County Sheriff's officials Saturday while visiting a gas station near Morgantown, West Virginia.

Greene Region Police Chief Will DeForte said officers were preparing to search a home in the area where Butterfield was believed to be staying when he pulled up in a pickup truck at the gas station near where they were staying. Officers surrounded his vehicle but had to break a window of the pickup truck to arrest him when he refused to get out.

Butterfield is being held at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County, West Virginia, while awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.

Greene Regional Police charged him with numerous felonies after officers searched his Perry Township home in the 200 block of Dunkard Avenue on July 2 while investigating a motorcycle theft out of Cumberland Township. While there, DeForte said, they discovered suspected crystal meth in the same packaging commonly found in pharmaceutical labs in Mexico.

“The connection (to the drug cartel) is very real here,” DeForte said.

The suspected drugs were sent to the state police crime lab for testing, and DeForte said they are awaiting the results before filing drug charges against Butterfield. Police charged him on Aug. 1 with theft by unauthorized taking, receiving stolen property, destruction of vehicle identification numbers, ownership of an auto repair shop, prohibited weapon possession and fleeing in connection with the alleged auto repair shop activities. Police searched a home and a detached garage and found three motorcycles and an all-terrain vehicle there, all with destroyed vehicle identification numbers, DeForte said.

Butterfield had been on the run since the raid on his home until Monongalia County sheriff's officials tracked him down in the Morgantown area following tips from confidential informants, DeForte said.

“He stayed with anyone who would let him stay,” DeForte said. “He moved around, but most of the area he lived in was across the border in the Morgantown area.”

Jail records show he was arrested Saturday night and is being held without bail. Butterfield will not face charges in West Virginia, meaning his extradition to Pennsylvania may be expedited.