RALEIGH - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that in federal court today, Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, sentenced JOEY OSCAR AUSTIN, JR., 31, of Greenville, North Carolina, to 110 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. AUSTIN previously pled guilty to this charge on Feb. 26, 2016.
In January 2015, the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force began an investigation into AUSTIN’S heroin and cocaine trafficking activities as a result of information gathered during multiple ongoing narcotics investigations. Investigators learned that AUSTIN would travel to Philadelphia, PA, several times a month in rental cars to buy heroin that he would sell in Pitt County. On Feb. 3, 2015, as AUSTIN was traveling from Philadelphia, investigators stopped the rental car in which AUSTIN was the passenger. During the traffic stop, AUSTIN emptied a plastic bag containing an unknown amount of heroin out of the front passenger window. Investigators located 10 boxes of glassine bags in the rental car. The investigation revealed that from 2013 through Feb. 3, 2015, AUSTIN was accountable for the distribution of 367 grams of heroin and 793 grams of cocaine.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force. The federal prosecution was handled by Special Assistant United States Attorney Glenn Perry. Mr. Perry is a prosecutor with the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office. Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb has assigned Mr. Perry to the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force criminal matters. Mr. Perry’s assignment to the United States Attorney’s Office has been made possible by grants funded by the Governor’s Crime Commission.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
