NEW BERN - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court on July 27, 2012, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced MICHAEL ANTHONY JONES, 41, to life imprisonment for his part in a conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs. 

     A Federal Grand Jury returned a Criminal Indictment on April 19, 2011. On July 6, 2011, JONES pled guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

According to court documents and information revealed during the course of the defendant’s sentencing hearing, JONES was the organizer and leader of a significant drug trafficking organization consisting of over 30 individuals responsible for the distribution of multiple kilograms of powder and crack cocaine.  In early March, 2011, drug enforcement agents (DEA) in California learned that JONES was attempting to purchase cocaine from a source in Los Angeles.  Thereafter, DEA agents in California and the Eastern District of North Carolina, along with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, the Fayetteville Police Department, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation participated in an undercover sting operaton that culminated in the arrest of JONES after he had taken possession of 10 kilograms of cocaine in the parking lot of a mall in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  

Assistant United States Attorneys Brian S. Meyers and J. Frank Bradsher prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

 

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