Eight Current and Former Law Enforcement Officers, Four Correctional Officers, and Others Sentenced for Their Participation in Drug Distribution Conspiracy

Eight current and former law enforcement officers, four correctional officers and two other individuals have been sentenced for their participation in trafficking narcotics and narcotics proceeds for a purported large-scale drug trafficking organization. The individuals used their affiliation with law enforcement to make money by protecting shipments of purported narcotics and narcotics proceeds.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John Stuart Bruce of the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced the following 14 defendants on a variety of charges, including conspiracy to distribute illegal narcotics, firearm charges and bribery charges: Lann Tjuan Clanton, 38, of Garysburg, N.C., was sentenced to 195 months; Ikeisha Jacobs, 34, of Rich Square, N.C., was sentenced to 120 months; Jason Boone, 31, of Henrico, N.C., was sentenced to 96 months; Wardie Vincent Jr., 37, of Henrico, N.C., was sentenced to 72 months; Adrienne Moody, 39, of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., was sentenced to 87 months; Cory Jackson, 45, of Garysburg, N.C., was sentenced to 87 months; Jimmy Pair Jr., 51, of Pleasant Hill, N.C., was sentenced to 87 months; Curtis Boone, 38, of Gaston, N.C., was sentenced to 87 months; Thomas Jefferson Allen II, 39, of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., was sentenced to 87 months; Alaina Sue-Kam-Ling, 28, of Charlotte, N.C., was sentenced to 38 months; Kavon Phillips, 27, of Rich Square, N.C., was sentenced to 57 months; Alphonso Ponton, 45, of Weldon, N.C., was sentenced to 48 months; Crystal Pierce, 33, of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 6 months of house arrest; and Tohsa Dailey, 37, of Garysburg, N.C., was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

According to factual statements made in connection with the defendants’ guilty pleas, at the time of the crimes charged, Jacobs, Jason Boone, Pair Jr., Curtis Boone and Allen were Deputy Sheriffs at the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office; Clanton, Vincent Jr. and Jackson were former law enforcement officers; Moody, Sue-Kam-Ling, Phillips and Ponton were correctional officers; and Dailey was a 911 dispatch operator for Northampton County.

The charges stemmed from a large-scale undercover investigation into allegations of systemic law enforcement corruption in Northampton County. Admissions made in connection with the defendants’ guilty pleas revealed that during the course of the undercover investigation, the defendants aided in transporting purported illegal narcotics and illegal narcotics proceeds through North Carolina and elsewhere in exchange for thousands of dollars of payments.

In May 2017, a jury convicted a fifteenth defendant, Antonio Tillmon, 33, of Windsor, N.C., of drug, firearm and bribery charges relating to this scheme. Tillmon, a former North Carolina police officer, is set for sentencing during the Court’s September 12, term. All 15 defendants indicted in this case have now been convicted of various offenses.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Charlotte Division, Raleigh Resident Agency. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Lauren Bell and Molly Gaston of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Toby W. Lathan of the Eastern District of North Carolina.