NEW BERN — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - North Carolina, Eastern), published as received.
NEW BERN – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that in federal court, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced DELTON EUGENE WARREN, 56, of Fayetteville to 138 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
WARREN was named in an Indictment filed on September 21, 2017 charging him with Distribution of a Quantity of Cocaine Base (crack), Possession with Intent to Distribute 28 grams or More of Cocaine Base (crack), Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. On May 8, 2019, WARREN was found guilty after a jury trial.
According to the investigation, on February 22, 2017, Officers with the Fayetteville Police Department received information from a confidential source that WARREN was selling cocaine. Officers conducted four controlled buys over a period of 3 months from WARREN for crack cocaine and conducted a trash pull from WARREN’s residence. (Controlled purchases took place on February 22, 2017, February 27, 2017, March 9, 2017, and March 20, 2017). On April 27, 2017, Officers executed a search warrant at WARREN’s residence and found 17.65 grams of marijuana, 156.51 grams of crack cocaine, 95.94 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, approximately $15,000 cash, and a stolen 9mm handgun firearm. WARREN is a convicted felon and prohibited from possession of firearms.
This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. For more information about Project Guardian, please see: https://www.justice.gov/projectguardian.
This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina implements the PSN Program through its Take Back North Carolina Initiative. 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 Fayetteville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) conducted investigation of this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Jane Jackson and Chad Rhoades handled the prosecution of this case for the government.
