Eugene “Bo” Mashburn, Drug Trafficking, North Carolina 2023

A Hayesville, N.C. man has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Eugene “Bo” Mashburn, 58, to 135 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to court documents and testimony, Mashburn conspired with other drug traffickers in North Carolina and Georgia to distribute significant quantities of methamphetamine.

Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement conducted two controlled buys of methamphetamine from Mashburn and seized methamphetamine, 24 firearms, and two silencers from his residence.

Murray thanked the DEA’s Asheville Post of Duty, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Swain County Sheriff’s Office, the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, the Highlands Police Department, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation for their efforts in handling the investigation.

Mashburn is currently in custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kent prosecuted the case.

In a separate case, Jeremy Daniel Bowen, 44, of Maggie Valley, N.C. was sentenced to 210 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for operating a methamphetamine lab out of his residence.

Bowen, who has a prior murder conviction, was found to have been operating the lab, which was seized by law enforcement, along with a loaded firearm.

The investigation was handled by the DEA’s Asheville Post of Duty and the Maggie Valley Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kent also prosecuted Bowen’s case.

Both defendants are in custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

Related Federal Cases