An investigation between Duplin and Onslow County detectives led to a lengthy prison sentence for a Duplin County drug dealer.
Robert Baxter, 51, was sentenced last week to 97 months (8 years) in prison for one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, distribution of five hundred (500) grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute fifty (50) grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.
On Sept. 20, 2019 Duplin County Narcotics detectives served a search warrant at Baxter s home on Back Swamp Road. During the search, detectives found an ounce and half of 98% pure methamphetamine. On Oct. 16, 2019, Duplin and Onslow County detectives went to a home associated with Baxter on Dunn Road in Sneads Ferry. During that search, they found a quantity of methamphetamine and a digital scale.
A habitual felon from Onslow County will spend the next decade and a half behind bars after investigators from local, state and federal agencies showed he was guilty of selling drugs and shooting at law enforcement.
On Wednesday, Sean Victor Smith, 32, was sentenced to 198 months (16-17 years) in prison for possession with intent to distribute a quantity of methamphetamine and possessing, brandishing, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The initial investigation began on Oct. 22, 2019 when the Onslow County Sheriff s Office started looking into a possible burglary on West Morton Street in Jacksonville.
For the Tribune
WILMINGTON A Duplin County woman has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in federal prison on possession and drug distribution charges.
Ashley Shackleford, 35, was arrested for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distributing 500 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine, and with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams of a mixture substance containing methamphetamine.
On June 20, the Drug Enforcement Administration, in cooperation with Duplin County narcotics deputies, received information that Shackleford had recently been in possession of several ounces of meth and a firearm at her home.
Additional information revealed Shackleford and another person were traveling to Atlanta to obtain 2 pounds of meth before returning to eastern North Carolina.
An Onslow County man heard his sentence read to him in a Craven County courthouse on Tuesday where the judge issued a lengthy prison term for his involvement with selling drugs.
Cyle Wesley Norris, 30, was sentenced to 9 years (112 months) after being found guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture/substance containing methamphetamine and two counts of distribution of a quantity of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine.
Norris, who became a convicted felon in 2009 after being found guilty of felony breaking and entering in Onslow, was caught selling methamphetamine to an undercover officer working with the Onslow County Sheriff s Office in Richlands on Dec. 20, 2019.