Federal prosecutors say a former Sheriff in Mercer County was illegally buying hydrocodone pills and then taking most of them himself.

Sixty-three year old Danny Ray Wills from Bluefield plead guilty to a one count Information in Beckley Federal Court on Thursday, an Information charging him with fraudulently obtaining and possessing hydrocodone.

Wills, who is also a doctor, admitted that, during his time as Mercer County's Sheriff, he ordered 4,500 hydrocodone pills from General Injections and Vaccinations in Bastien, Virginia and paid for them with proceeds from the Mercer County Concealed Weapons Fund.

The pills were shipped to the Mercer County Sheriff's Department where he claimed to be running a free clinic and prescribing those pills to patients.

When the Department was searched in May, federal investigators say Wills only had records of giving 31 of the pills to three patients.  He admitted to investigators, at the time, that he was taking between four and six of the pills himself every day and had been doing so for two years.

He also wrote prescriptions for Xanax in the names of both his wife and son, but used the Xanax himself.  About 1,400 Xanax pills had been prescribed for Wills' son over time.

Wills resigned from his role as Mercer County Sheriff in June.

"Law enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the law.  Sheriff Wills committed this crime from the Sheriff's Office and dishonored his oath," U.S. Attorney Charles Miller said.  "This conviction should send a clear message that no one is above the law."

Wills will be sentenced on December 14th.  He faces up to four years in prison and a fine of $250,000.