Currituck County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Distributing Cocaine and Crack

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that in federal court, Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle, sentenced CHRISTIAN LAVAR BURTON, 38 from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to 120 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. 

CHRISTIAN LAVAR BURTON, was named in a six-count Indictment filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina on March 21, 2018.  On May 7, 2018, pursuant to a written Plea Agreement, BURTON pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession With the Intent to Distribute a Quantity of Cocaine and Cocaine Base (Crack) from April 2016 through February 2018, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846.   

The Currituck County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Maple, North Carolina, initiated an investigation into the narcotics activity of BURTON in May 2016. BURTON had several past arrests for the sale of narcotics.  During the course of the investigation, agents utilized an undercover agent and multiple confidential informants. From mid-2016 through early 2018, the CCSO made numerous controlled purchases from BURTON in and around the Elizabeth City area.   

On February 1, 2018, BURTON was arrested at his home in Moyock. A search of BURTON’S residence resulted in the seizure of approximately 9 grams of cocaine base (crack), approximately 6 grams of cocaine, approximately 108 grams of marijuana, assorted plastic bag portions used to package marijuana, $1,551 in United States currency, and a set of digital scales.

The case is a federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) criminal matter investigated by the Currituck County Sherrif’s Office Narcotics Unit, the North Carolina State Burea of Investigations and the FederalBureau of Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Edward Gray prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.