CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Savonte Watkins, 46, of Charlotte, to 42 months in prison on drug charges yesterday, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Bell also ordered Watkins to serve three years under court supervision after...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Joel Wesley Creech, 45, of Brevard, N.C., to 132 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Reidinger also imposed five years of supervised release following incarceration. According...

RALEIGH, N.C. – William Dayshawn Wilson, also known as “Santana,” of New Bern, North Carolina, was sentenced to 234 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and aiding and abetting. On June 3, 2022, Wilson, age 32, pled guilty to the charges...

RALEIGH, N.C. – The leader an armed drug-trafficking organization (DTO) responsible for moving kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in and around the Craven County area was sentenced yesterday to 420 months in prison for drug trafficking and gun charges. On March 3, 2023, Ivan Leonardo Medina-Beltran, age 45, pled...

SAVANNAH, GA -- Two Georgia men, including one from Bryan County, have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. Darien Cothern, 34, of Marietta, Ga., was sentenced to 42 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and Javarus McKinney, a/k/a “Jody,” 34...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez this morning on charges related to the alleged unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. A criminal indictment charging Henry Ronald Emery, Jr...

SAVANNAH, GA: A Laurens County, Ga., man identified as a drug supplier in a Southeastern drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to federal prison, and his four co-defendants are serving prison terms after all pled guilty to charges related to the conspiracy. Dennis Rodriguez Kinchen, 46, of Dublin, Ga., was...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Brandon Lee Nalley, 48, of Hendersonville, N.C., to 168 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. According to filed documents and...

SAVANNAH, GA: The leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed kilos of cocaine and large amounts of other illegal drugs throughout the coastal Georgia area has been sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison, concluding prosecution of Operation Deadlier Catch. Joseph Bulloch, a/k/a “Lil Joe,” 34, of...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that a federal jury has convicted Jonathan Craig Otuel, 36, of Stallings, N.C., of conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Otuel previously pleaded guilty...