Wayne County Man Faces Life In Prison After Being Convicted On Drug Charges
Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 2:00 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
NEW BERN, NC.- U.S. Attorney Michael Easley reported, that a Federal Jury for the Eastern District of North Carolina has returned a guilty verdict against Tamarcus Shaquan Ellis, 34, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, on multiple federal narcotics violations.
The jury found Ellis guilty of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine; and two counts of Distribution of 5 Grams or More of Methamphetamine. U.S. District Court Judge accepted the verdict and filed it with the court. When sentenced, Ellis faces up to life in U.S. Federal Prison.
ATF Agents Investigate
According to documents filed with the court and evidence presented at trial, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives “ATF” were investigating Ellis as part of an operation targeting methamphetamine dealers operating throughout the Goldsboro and Jacksonville areas in early 2021.
By late March 2021, agents of the ATF had arrested several high-level methamphetamine traffickers and began targeting Ellis’ drug trafficking organization.
Over multiple months in the spring of 2021, ATF investigators used a confidential source to make controlled purchases of methamphetamine from Ellis’ organization. Due to the number of arrests of other methamphetamine traffickers in February and March 2021, Ellis went to great lengths to avoid direct involvement in the narcotics sales. In addition to counter-surveilling buy locations for law enforcement presence. Ellis also made last-minute changes to the buy locations to limit the risk of being seen.
In addition, Ellis used low-level underlings in his organization to deliver the drugs while he watched the drug deal from a nearby location. The underlings testified at trial that Ellis supplied them with the drugs for delivery to the confidential source.
