Additional Defendant Sentenced In Operation No Quarter
NEW BERN - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced an additional defendant in a large drug trafficking conspiracy. JEREMY RICHARDSON, 28, of Greenville, North Carolina, received 150 months imprisonment followed by five years supervised release. RICHARDSON received an enhanced sentence due to his status as a career offender.
A Federal Grand Jury returned a Criminal Indictment on May 8, 2012, charging RICHARDSON with six violations of federal narcotics laws. RICHARDSON entered a guilty plea on September 11, 2012, to conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine and a quantity of powder cocaine.
According to evidence presented in Court, controlled buys were arranged in which crack cocaine was purchased from RICHARDSON during a two-year investgation. On several occasions during the investigation officers seized crack and powder cocaine from RICHARDSON. The investigation revealed that RICHARDSON had been selling drugs since 2001 and was responsible for the distribution of over 800 grams of crack cocaine and 10 kilograms of powder 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 100 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 (DEA) - 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.