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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday - June 5, 2003

WILMINGTON - United States Attorney Frank D. Whitney announced that CURTIS CRAWFORD, a/k/a "Phebby, and SHURON KEITH BELLAMY were sentenced in federal court in Wilmington, N. C., on Tuesday, June 3, 2003, by Senior U. S. District Judge James C. Fox, for drug violations.

CRAWFORD, 32, of Bolivia, N. C., was sentenced to 243 months imprisonment and fined $12,100.00, for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. BELLAMY, 30, of Supply, N. C., was sentenced to 220 months imprisonment and fined $11,100.00, for distribution of crack cocaine. Federal parole has been abolished.

CRAWFORD and BELLAMY were leaders in a conspiracy that transported and distributed more than 90 kilograms of cocaine and more than five kilograms of crack cocaine in Brunswick County, from 1998 through 2002.

U. S. Attorney Whitney said these convictions were part of the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case, "Operation Riptide." Participating agencies include the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office, the N. C. State Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration (Wilmington office), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (Wilmington office), the Brunswick County District Attorney's Office, and the U. S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney's web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.