Pamlico County Drug Traffickers Sentenced As Part Of “Operation No Quarter”
NEW BERN – United States Attorney Thomas Walker, District Attorney Scott Thomas and District Attorney Kimberly Robb announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced ALLEN GEROME GIBBS, 38, of Bayboro, NC and JESSIE LEE PEARSON, 36, of Greenville, NC to federal prison as a result of “Operation No Quarter.”
GIBBS was sentenced to 189 months’ imprisonment while PEARSON received a sentence of 141 months’ imprisonment. Both will be placed on supervised release for a period of 5 years following the completion of their prison sentences. In addition, GIBBS was also ordered to pay $1,900 in restitution to the Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office. If he is unable to pay the restitution up front, he will be required to participate in the Bureau of Prisons’ Inmate Financial Responsibility Program to pay back the money while he is incarcerated. As part of his plea agreement, PEARSON agreed to forfeit to the government $99,763 in cash seized by agents as a part of the investigation.
PEARSON was arrested on July 4, 2011, after a shipment of approximately 14 kilograms of cocaine was seized in Pamlico County from a truck driven by Renato Torres-Eguino, of Phoenix, Arizona. That cocaine was destined for PEARSON’s cocaine source of supply, Jorge Acosta-Muro, of Arapahoe, North Carolina. Acosta-Muro intended to sell the cocaine to PEARSON and Kevin Cornelious Davis, of Bayboro, North Carolina, who, in turn, planned to sell the cocaine to their customers, who included GIBBS and Tobia Mila Moye, of Grifton, North Carolina. The investigation revealed that PEARSON, who lived in Greenville but operated a commercial fishing business in Pamlico County, was responsible for distributing over 130 kilograms of cocaine throughout Pitt and Pamlico Counties since 2002.
GIBBS was indicted after agents with the Craven County and Pamlico County Sheriff’s Offices utilized a confidential informant to purchase cocaine from GIBBS on a number of occasions in Craven and Pamlico Counties during a timeframe spanning from 2011 to 2012. Further investigation revealed that GIBBS was involved in the distribution of over 8 kilograms of cocaine in the Craven and Pamlico County areas since his release from prison on prior drug charges in 2008.
During previous sessions of court, Judge Flanagan sentenced the others involved as follows: Torres-Eguino was sentenced to 236 months’ imprisonment. Acosta-Muro was sentenced to 270 months’ imprisonment. Davis was sentenced to 131 months’ imprisonment. Moye was sentenced to 122 months’ imprisonment.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (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 ten years and five 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. Law enforcement officials seized drugs with a street value $4.6 million, including 127 kilograms of cocaine, 53 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, 160 pounds of marijuana, and 32 grams of heroin. Additionally, $2.2 million in U.S. Currency, 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; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) - Raleigh and Wilmington offices; the United States Marshal’s 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. Mr. Perry is a prosecutor with the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office and Mr. Willis is a prosecutor with District 3-B District Attorney’s Office encompassing Carteret, Craven and Pamlico Counties. District Attorneys Kimberly Robb 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.