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Press Release

Elizabeth City Woman Sentenced For Cocaine And Marijuana Conspiracy

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina

RALEIGH – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that in federal court on November 10, 2016, United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced SHIRITA MARIE JAMES, 37, from Elizabeth City, NC, to 135 months in prison and 5 years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and a quantity of marijuana.  JAMES pled guilty to the charge on July 19, 2016.        

On June 20, 2011, JAMES, her husband, Shawn Christopher Elliott, and her brother, William Thomas James, were arrested by the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration when they attempted to buy 1 kilogram and 100 pounds of marijuana for $106,000 from a confidential informant.  On November 10, 2015, members of the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation arrested JAMES in Lewiston-Woodville, NC, when she was delivering 498 grams of cocaine to a co-conspirator.  The investigation revealed that between June 20, 2011, and November 10, 2016, JAMES was responsible for conspiring to distribute approximately 16 kilograms of cocaine and 45 kilograms of marijuana.

Elliott and William James were sentenced in 2013.  Elliott received 70 months in prison followed by 8 years of supervised release.  William James received 71 months in prison.

The case was investigated by the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The federal prosecution was handled by Special Assistant United States Attorney Glenn Perry.  Mr. Perry is a prosecutor with the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office.  Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb has assigned Mr. Perry to the United States Attorney’s Office, pursuant to funding provided by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, to prosecute federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force criminal matters.  

Updated November 21, 2016