NEW BERN , N.C. – Jimmy Waylon Johnson, age 59, was sentenced to 179 months and a $50,000 fine for his role as the leader of a drug trafficking organization that distributed pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine across Eastern North Carolina. Johnson pled guilty to two drug trafficking charges and...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, United States Attorney Michael Easley announced that over the course of 2023, his office prosecuted 281 illegal firearm offenders resulting in the forfeiture of at least 249 illegally owned, possessed, used, or obtained firearms. Firearms that are criminally forfeited are removed from the possession of a...

RALEIGH , N.C. – A Halifax County man was sentenced to 100 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine. On October 16, 2023, Taj’ma De’yong Ussery, also known as “Pop Off,” was convicted by a federal jury. “Drug traffickers are pushing dangerous and illegal drugs in vulnerable communities, driving up rates...

STATESBORO, GA: Eighteen defendants from the Laurens and Toombs County, Ga., area are in custody awaiting further legal proceedings after their initial court appearances from a 55-count drug trafficking indictment in U.S. District Court. Each of the 18 defendants is charged with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – James Leon Massey, 52, of Whittier, N.C., was sentenced to 139 months in prison today followed by five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent...

STATESBORO, GA: An Evans County, Ga., man has been sentenced to two decades in federal prison for distributing cocaine as part of a major drug trafficking network. Tony Deshawn Slater, 52, of Claxton, Ga., was sentenced to 240 months in prison after pleading guilty to Distribution of Cocaine, said Jill...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Fayetteville man was sentenced today to 300 months in prison for running a Fayetteville-based stash house where fentanyl and methamphetamine were sold. On July 25, 2022, Montrel Demon Rhone pled guilty to drug trafficking and firearms charges. “Stemming the flow of illicit fentanyl and the overdose...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, Brandon Alan Purvis, 44, of Waynesville, N.C., was sentenced to 27 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine and illegal possession of a firearm, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robert J. Murphy...

AUGUSTA, GA: Ten defendants in the Augusta area have been indicted on federal charges for participating in a major methamphetamine trafficking operation. The defendants in USA v. Walters et al. all are charged with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Methamphetamine, along with multiple individual charges...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Maxton man was sentenced yesterday to 300 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy responsible for moving kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico to Robeson County. Antonio Lavonne Locklear pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, and...