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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Monday - February 28, 2005


WILMINGTON - United States Attorney Frank D. Whitney announced that JOHN LEWIS DILLAHUNT, JR., 30, of Jacksonville, N. C., was sentenced in federal court in Wilmington on Tuesday, February 22, 2005. DILLAHUNT pled guilty on November 8, 2004, to possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine and cocaine powder; using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime; and being a felon in possession of firearms. He was charged in an indictment filed on May 13, 2004.

Senior U. S. District Judge James C. Fox sentenced DILLAHUNT to 260 months in prison, to be followed by a supervised release term of five years.

On October 13, 2003, deputies of the Onslow County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at DILLAHUNT's residence. The deputies recovered almost half of a kilogram of cocaine powder and just over 12 grams of crack cocaine. Found with the drugs were a nine millimeter handgun and ammunition, scales, and more than $2,000.00 in cash.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Onslow County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Justice Department's national initiative to reduce gun crime. Assistant U. S. Attorney John H. Bennett of the Greenville branch office is prosecuting the case for the United States.

 

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