Armed Methamphetamine Trafficker Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. handed down a 20-year prison sentence today to Joseph Michael Osborne on drug conspiracy and firearms offenses, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Judge Cogburn also ordered Osborne, 38, of Charlotte, to serve five years under court supervision after he is released from prison.

U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta and the Carolinas, and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).

According to court proceedings and filed court documents, beginning in at least 2014 continuing through April 2015, Osborne was part of a drug conspiracy involving the distribution of methamphetamine in and around Mecklenburg County.  According to court records, Osborne sold methamphetamine to an undercover officer.  On April 2, 2015, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Osborne’s residence and seized 254 grams of 98.1% pure methamphetamine, five handguns, one of which was stolen, an AR-15 assault-style firearm, and $35,733 in cash.  Osborne pleaded guilty in October 2015 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. 

Osborne is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole. 

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Rose thanked HSI and CMPD for their investigative efforts.  The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.