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Press Release
Press Release
Eight current and former law enforcement officers, four correctional officers and two other individuals have been convicted for their participation in trafficking narcotics and narcotics proceeds for a large-scale drug trafficking organization, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney John Stuart Bruce of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
In April 2013, the FBI initiated an undercover investigation regarding allegations of systemic corruption within the Northampton County, North Carolina, Sheriff’s Office (NCSO). Undercover agents posed as members of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that was responsible for introducing kilogram quantities of narcotics to be transported up the I-95 corridor. In connection with their guilty pleas, the defendants admitted that they understood that they were recruited to work for the drug trafficking organization because of their status as law enforcement officers or ties to law enforcement. The investigation grew as the original targets recruited others to participate. The defendants transported purported narcotics and narcotics proceeds for the drug trafficking organization in exchange for bribe payments, and some defendants carried firearms during this time.
The following individuals pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of North Carolina:
The FBI Charlotte Division’s Raleigh Resident Agency investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Lauren Bell and Menaka Kalaskar of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Toby W. Lathan of the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.