Wilmington Man Sentenced to Nine Years for Heroin Distribution

RALEIGH — The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announces that United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, sentenced RICHARDO QUAMAINE TILLERY, 33, of Wilmington to 108 months’ imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.  TILLERY pled guilty on August 28, 2018, to one count of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute heroin. 

On April 25, 2017, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) used a confidential informant to conduct a controlled purchase of 50 dosage units of heroin from TILLERY.  The transaction occurred inside a wired undercover apartment, which ATF employed to investigate gang and drug activity in the Wilmington, North Carolina, area.  Agents observed the transaction as it occurred through a remote live feed.  TILLERY’s sale to the CI was not an isolated occurrence:  At sentencing, the Court determined that TILLERY’s past conduct involved the distribution of over one kilogram of heroin. 

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 violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.  

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF).  Assistant United States Attorney Jake D. Pugh represented the government.