South Carolina Man Is Sentenced To 14 Years For Drug Trafficking

The Court Enhanced the Defendant’s Sentence Due to Multiple Prior Drug Convictions

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. sentenced a South Carolina man to 168 months in prison and four years of supervised release for trafficking heroin and crack cocaine, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Veto Omar Martin, 41, of Anderson, S.C., received an enhanced prison sentence and was sentenced as a Career Offender due to his multiple prior drug trafficking convictions.

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief David Zack of the Asheville Police Department (APD), join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, on November 30, 2018, officers with the Asheville Police Department’s Drug Suppression Unit executed a search warrant at a residence, and a vehicle parked in the driveway of the residence, in Asheville.  While executing the search warrant, law enforcement recovered from inside the home narcotics and various drug paraphernalia.  Law enforcement also arrested Martin, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the parked vehicle. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement located heroin, crack cocaine, and other narcotics.  According to court records, over the course of the investigation, Martin admitted to selling drugs in Asheville and surrounding areas, and using the Asheville residence to sell narcotics.

In October 2019, Martin pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He is currently in 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 Murray thanked the FBI and APD for handling the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pritchard, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville, prosecuted the case.