more sentenced in operation no quarter
WILMINGTON - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox sentenced two additional defendants in a large drug trafficking conspiracy. JOHNNY RAY SPARROW, JR., 37, of Kinston, North Carolina received 78 months imprisonment followed by three years supervised release. His co-defendant, DARIAN JEVON CANTEY, 32, also of Kinston, North Carolina, received 48 months imprisonment followed by three years supervised release.
A Federal Grand Jury returned a Criminal Indictment on February 9, 2011, charging both defendants. CANTEY and SPARROW each entered a guilty plea, on December 5, 2011, and January 30, 2012, respectively, to distributing five grams or more of cocaine base (crack) and a quantity of cocaine.
According to evidence presented in Court, a controlled buy was arranged in which powder and crack cocaine were purchased from SPARROW and CANTEY. Later that day a search was conducted of SPARROW’s residence, where part of the “buy money” from the purchase that day was found. Upon further investigation, it was learned that SPARROW had been selling drugs since 2000. Based on the information received, it is estimated that SPARROW is responsible for selling 109.5 ounces of powder cocaine and 15.8 grams of crack cocaine and CANTEY is responsible for 37.5 grams of cocaine and 163.01 grams of crack cocaine.
OCDETF Operation “No Quarter” was designed to attack the infrastructure of the Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO), including those of the Los Zetas, La Familia, Gulf and Sinaloa drug cartels, operating not only in the Eastern District of North Carolina, but throughout North Carolina, the United States and Mexico. These DTO’s are responsible for the importation of large quantities of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine into the United States, as well as the related remittance of illegal drug proceeds back into Mexico.
The investigation spanned 10 years and 5 North Carolina counties. As part of the investigation, over 90 individuals have been charged by indictment or criminal information in the Eastern District of North Carolina and state courts. In addition, $1.5 million in U.S. Currency, 127 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $3.8 million dollars, 41 pounds of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of $650,000, 160 lbs of marijuana with a street value of $170,000, 32 grams of heroin, 35 firearms and 35 real properties valued at $1.5 million were seized by law enforcement authorities.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration - Raleigh and Greensboro Resident Offices, the New York Field Division and numerous other DEA offices in the United States and Mexico; the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Raleigh and Wilmington offices; the United States Marshals Service; the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Raleigh and Tampa, Florida offices; the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation; the North Carolina National Guard; the North Carolina State Highway Patrol; the Greenville Police Department; the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office; the Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office; the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office; the Craven County Sheriff’s Office; the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office; the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office; the New Bern Police Department, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office; the Person County Sheriff’s Office; the Farmville Police Department; the Goldsboro Police Department; the Rocky Mount Police Department; the Burlington Police Department, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wilson Police Department.
The federal prosecutions were handled by Special Assistant United States Attorneys Glenn Perry and Augustus Willis, IV. Mr. Perry is a prosecutor with the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Willis is a prosecutor with the Craven, Carteret and Pamlico Counties District Attorney’s Office. District Attorneys Clark Everett and Scott Thomas have assigned Mr. Perry and Mr. Willis to the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force criminal matters. Their assignments to the United States Attorney’s Office have been made possible by grants funded by the Governor’s Crime Commission.
