Armed Drug Trafficker Receives 14 Years in Federal Prison

WILMINGTON – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced ANTHONY WILLIAMS  36, of New Hanover County to 168 months’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised released. On January 15, 2018, WILLIAMS plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of Cocaine, possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of Crack Cocaine and 5 kilograms or more of Cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

On June 6, 2017, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Narcotics Division served a search warrant at WILLIAMS’s residence in Wilmington, North Carolina.  Law enforcement found more than 12 kilogram of Cocaine, 388 grams of Crack Cocaine, a loaded semi-automatic handgun, items used to convert cocaine into crack cocaine and $205,000 in cash.

During the course of the investigation, law enforcement uncovered that WILLIAMS was responsible for distributing more than 60 kilograms of Cocaine and 4 kilograms of Crack Cocaine.

This case was part of a joint operation between the New Hanover and Brunswick County Sheriffs’ Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Coastal Carolina Criminal Enterprise Task Force.   This Task Force uses resources from federal, state and local law enforcement to efficiently and effectively target and combat criminal groups operating in coastal, southern North Carolina.  A key component of this task force’s success involves the use of task force officers from local law enforcement who have direct knowledge of the criminal activity in their areas.

This case is also part of 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Coastal Carolina Criminal Enterprise Task Force and the New Hanover and Brunswick County Sheriffs’ Offices, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and the Wilmington Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Severo prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.