FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

THURSDAY - May 7, 2009

DRUG DEALER RECEIVES 20 YEARS IN PRISON

GREENVILLE - United States Attorney George E.B. Holding announced that in federal court on May 5, 2009, Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced THOMAS BROCK, of Wilmington, North Carolina, to 240 months’ imprisonment, four years of supervised release, and imposed a fine of $7500.00.

On October 26, 2005, a Federal Grand Jury returned a Criminal Indictment. On December 4, 2008, BROCK pled guilty to conspiring with others to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute more than five (5) grams of cocaine base (crack).

The investigation centered around a search warrant executed on January 27, 2005, at a residence on South Ninth Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, by members of the Wilmington Police Department. BROCK resided at the residence, a crack house. Wilmington Police Department narcotic officers had received information from a confidential source that indicated BROCK would be in possession of cocaine base. The confidential source also stated that unknown individuals had burglarized the residence and robbed the occupants of cocaine base and U.S. currency. When officers executed the no-knock search warrant, a co-defendant, Larry Rouse, possessed a .357 caliber firearm and fired a shot at the officers as they entered the residence by the front door. No officer was injured. Officers searched the residence and located a police scanner, digital scales, drug paraphernalia, ammunition, and a video monitoring system. The investigation revealed that BROCK supplied Larry Rouse with the firearm.

Rouse was sentenced on July 12, 2006.

Mr. Holding commented, “We applaud the Court’s 20-year sentence. It certainly reflects the danger posed by the defendant’s drug crime and by the violence that was a part of his arrest.”

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.

The law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Wilmington Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Michael G. James is the assigned prosecutor.

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