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-Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced MICHAEL JERMAINE JACKSON, 35, of Spring Hope to 160 months imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release.
JACKSON was named in a four-count Indictment filed on April 4, 2019, charging him with possession with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, cocaine base (crack), cocaine, marijuana and CBD Oil UK, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of distributing a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On October 15, 2019, JACKSON pled guilty to that charge.
According to the investigation, in September 2018, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) began an investigation into the drug trafficking activities of JACKSON. A confidential informant provided information that JACKSON was selling narcotics, including heroin, from his residence on Wiley Road in Spring Hope, North Carolina.
After a series of controlled purchases of heroin and crack cocaine from JACKSON at his residence, FCSO executed a search warrant of JACKSON’S residence where they found quantities of heroin containing fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine, marijuana, drug distribution paraphernalia, a firearm and ammunition. JACKSON had just been released from a state prison sentence six months prior to the execution of the search warrant.
This case is 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. Since 2017, the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
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 matter was conducted jointly by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Dodson prosecuted the case for the government.