Troy Ahkeem Wilson, Heroin and Fentanyl Distribution, North Carolina 2017

GREENVILLE – A Wilmington man has been sentenced to 144 months in prison for his role in a heroin and fentanyl distribution ring.

Troy Ahkeem Wilson, 38, of Wilmington was sentenced on April 12, 2017 in Federal court. He was also ordered to serve 5 years of supervised release following his prison term.

The charges against Wilson stemmed from two incidents in February and April of 2016. On February 3, 2016, officers from the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Wilson. During the search of the vehicle, officers found an off-white powdery substance on Wilson’s hands and coat and seized an open plastic bag containing 0.81 gram of heroin.

Wilson and a passenger in the vehicle were arrested and transported to jail. Upon being searched at the jail, a small plastic package containing 16.73 grams of heroin was located in the passenger’s bra. She told law enforcement officers that she and Wilson drove to New York where Wilson met a man in order to purchase heroin.

On April 29, 2016, officers from the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Wilson. A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of three small bags of marijuana, five bags of heroin banded together, and a large bag containing several individual bags of fentanyl, and other drug paraphernalia. The amount of drugs seized from the vehicle was 95.70 grams of fentanyl and 3.48 grams of a fentanyl and heroin mixture.

Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous drug to law enforcement officers and, if improperly handled, it has deadly consequences. According to the DEA, it is 40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin. A very small amount ingested or absorbed through the skin can kill.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Coastal Carolinas Criminal Enterprise Task Force, consisting of the FBI’s Wilmington Resident Agency, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Howard prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.