Gang Member Sentenced to 14 Years for Involvement in Cross-Country Drug Conspiracy

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Raleigh gang member was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in prison for conspiring to traffic fentanyl pills in the Eastern District of North Carolina.  Shakeim Weeks, age 30, pled guilty on February 27, 2025, to Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Four Hundred Grams or More of a Mixture and Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Fentanyl.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, law enforcement determined that Weeks, a validated member of the United Blood Nation gang, was part of a drug trafficking organization that was obtaining fentanyl pills in California and Arizona and transporting them to the Raleigh area for distribution. On June 7, 2024, Weeks was arrested when law enforcement found approximately 100,000 fentanyl pills, weighing approximately 11 kilograms, in Weeks' suitcase when he returned to North Carolina from a resupply trip to Arizona.  The fentanyl pills Weeks brought to North Carolina were packaged in Lego boxes, consistent with other seizures of fentanyl pills from this drug trafficking organization. 

This investigation was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Raleigh Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Durham Police Department investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey L. Peaden prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:24-CR-200-D-006. 

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