Raleigh Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Illegally Possessing Firearms

RALEIGH – Robert J. Higdon, Jr., the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announces that United States District Judge James C. Dever III sentenced COURTNEY DANIEL DAVIS, 41, of Raleigh to 192 months’ imprisonment, followed by 6 years of supervised released.

On August 1, 2018, DAVIS was named in a five-count Indictment and on February 15, 2019, DAVIS pled guilty to one-count of Possession with Intent to Distribute a Quantity of Cocaine Base (Crack) and Marijuana and one-count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition. 

In February 2018, DAVIS, a convicted felon, became the target of a narcotics investigation after officers with the Raleigh Police Department received information that DAVIS was selling cocaine base from his residence.  On March 1, 2018, utilizing a confidential informant (CI), investigators conducted a controlled purchase of 0.97 gram of cocaine base from DAVIS.  On March 2, 2018, officers conducted a search of refuse from two City of Raleigh trash cans at the curb in front of DAVIS’ residence and recovered a plastic bag with cocaine residue.  On April 18, 2018, utilizing a CI, investigators conducted a second controlled purchase of 0.80 gram of cocaine base for $80 from DAVIS.

On April 19, 2018, investigators executed a search on DAVIS’ residence and DAVIS was found in the bed of the master bedroom.  Officers searched a pair of pants belonging to DAVIS, which were lying on the floor of the master bedroom at the base of a child’s bed, where DAVIS’ two-year-old son was sleeping.  From the pocket of the pants, investigators located 4.9 grams of cocaine base and $80 from the controlled purchase conducted earlier.  The serial numbers of the currency used had been recorded by law enforcement.  In the master bedroom closet, investigators found a semiautomatic handgun loaded with nine rounds of ammunition and 132 grams of marijuana.  Also, in the master bedroom, officers also recovered a cup containing 8 grams of cocaine base, a digital scale with cocaine residue, two razor blades with cocaine residue, and other drug paraphernalia.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Since 2017 the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime. 

That effort has been implemented through the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violence crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Raleigh Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Daniel W. Smith prosecuted the case for the government.