Robert Boone, 43, of Leland, North Carolina, is headed to federal prison for 30 years after being convicted of running a brutal heroin trafficking organization that turned Wilmington into a dumping ground for kilogram-level shipments of the deadly drug. Boone was sentenced to 360 months in federal court following his conviction on charges of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Boone didn’t start his operation in North Carolina—he imported it. Originally operating out of Paterson, New Jersey, Boone relocated his entire drug enterprise to Wilmington around 2012 and immediately began flooding the city with high-volume heroin runs. From 2012 to 2015, his DTO used couriers to move both the poison and the profits between New Jersey and North Carolina, creating a steady pipeline of addiction and violence.
To hide the cash, Boone’s crew ran a sophisticated money laundering scheme—exploiting multiple bank accounts, prepaid debit cards, and wire transfers to clean hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds. The operation was so structured it mimicked a legitimate business, but its product was pure destruction. Federal investigators uncovered a network built on fear, cash, and chemical dependency.
The takedown didn’t stop with Boone. A string of co-conspirators have already been sentenced in federal court: AARON VEAL got 60 months; JAMES TOWNSEND, 84 months; CRAIG DENSON, 180 months; LARRY K. JOHNSON, 96 months for money laundering; CHRISTOPHER ANTUAN JONES, 105 months; DANIELLE JONES, 78 months; SYRJAH KASHIK ALSTON, 96 months on dual convictions; TAKEYAH ONI BAKER and OCTABIA LAUREN BOONE each got 42 months for laundering; FELICIA HALL received 3 years probation for running an unlicensed money transmitting business.
This case was part of a larger OCDETF operation dubbed WoofPack, targeting high-level heroin and cocaine importers, multi-tier distributors, and gang-linked traffickers operating across state lines. The investigation peeled back layers of corruption and coordination that stretched from New Jersey streets to coastal North Carolina neighborhoods.
The probe was led by the FBI’s Wilmington Safe Streets Task Force, the Wilmington Police Department, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Toby Lathan prosecuted. Boone’s reign of heroin is over—but the scars on Wilmington’s streets remain.
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Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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