RALEIGH - United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced NICHOLAS GARFIELD BAKER, 29, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to 81 months’ imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised released.
BAKER was named in a three-count Indictment on Nov. 27, 2018. Count One charged Possession with Intent to Distribute a Quantity of Marijuana and Fentanyl; Count Two charged Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime; and Count Three charged Possession of a Firearm by a Felon.
On May 10, 2019, BAKER pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana and fentanyl and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
On June 15, 2018, Raleigh Police Department officers encountered NICHOLAS GARFIELD BAKER standing next to a vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel on Plainview Drive in Raleigh. When BAKER noticed the marked patrol vehicle, he began to walk away. Officers made contact with BAKER as he threw an item, later identified as a bag containing 2.79 grams of marijuana, into a trash can. A search of the vehicle that BAKER was standing next to resulted in the recovery of the following from the center console: a jar containing 15.57 grams of marijuana; a loaded.38 caliber revolver; 6.66 grams of fentanyl; plastic bags; a digital scale; and traffic tickets belonging to BAKER.
At sentencing the Court found BAKER responsible for the possessing with the intent to distribute 18.36 grams of marijuana and 6.6 grams of fentanyl. BAKER also possessed a firearm in connection with his drug trafficking activities.
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.
That effort has been implemented through 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 in those communities on a sustained basis to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Raleigh Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel W. Smith prosecuted the case for the government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
