United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced James Julius Lumpkin, of Sevierville, Tennessee, to 156 months in prison and five years of supervised release for drug trafficking, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

U.S. Attorney King is joined in making today’s announcement by Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which oversees the Asheville Post of Duty, Jamaal Thompson Commander of the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, and Sheriff Chip Hall of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

According to filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, in November 2020, the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force learned that Lumpkin, a fugitive with outstanding arrest warrants in Georgia for trafficking narcotics, was located in Jackson County. Law enforcement learned that Lumpkin was staying at a local motel in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and proceeded to plan the arrest. On November 6, 2020, a team of federal and local law enforcement arrested Lumpkin while he was sitting in his van at the motel parking lot. At the time of the arrest, law enforcement seized from the van multiple plastic bags containing methamphetamine, digital scales, two loaded firearms, and ammunition. Law enforcement also recovered at the scene marijuana and prescription opioid pills.

On November 1, 2021, Lumpkin pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, marijuana and Hydrocodone. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King credited the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, the DEA’s Asheville Post of Duty and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for the investigation of this case.

Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Kent, of the United States Attorney’s Office in Asheville, prosecuted the case.

The DEA encourages parents, along with their children, to educate themselves about the dangers of legal and illegal drugs by visiting DEA’s interactive websites at www.JustThinkTwice.com, www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com, www.CampusDrugPrevention.gov, and www.dea.gov . Also follow DEA Atlanta via Twitter at @DEAATLANTADiv

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