Wilmington Man Gets 17+ Years for Heroin Sales

Jermaine Dale Rogers, 39, of Wilmington, is headed back behind bars—this time for 210 months—after admitting to flooding New Hanover County with heroin while still under federal supervision. The sentence, handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge James C. Dever, III, slams the door on a man who exploited his freedom to fuel a deadly drug trade.

Rogers wasn’t just dealing—he was operating at full throttle. In February 2017, a Confidential Informant tipped off law enforcement that Rogers was actively selling heroin. At the time, he was living in a federal halfway house in Wilmington, freshly released from the Bureau of Prisons. Instead of turning a new page, he turned his back on parole and turned a profit—selling two grams of heroin, known as a ‘clip,’ roughly 15 times over three months.

The operation intensified in April 2017, when authorities took direct action. Under law enforcement’s watch, the informant arranged a controlled buy. On April 18, 2017, Rogers accepted $600 in cash and handed over approximately 2 grams of heroin. The transaction, captured and documented, became a cornerstone of the case that would later bring him down.

Justice caught up with Rogers on June 21, 2017, when he was arrested and promptly admitted to selling drugs to the informant. His guilty plea on October 25, 2017, to Distribution of a Quantity of Heroin cut short a trial—but not the consequences. The Eastern District’s U.S. Attorney, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., made clear: crime under federal watch would be met with maximum accountability.

The investigation was a joint hammer blow from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradford Knott led the prosecution with a no-nonsense approach, underscoring Rogers’ repeated betrayal of public trust. Judge Dever, in delivering the 210-month sentence followed by six years of supervised release, cited Rogers’ relentless involvement in drug trafficking as a key factor in the severe penalty.

Rogers’ case is a grim reminder: freedom on parole isn’t a loophole—it’s a test. He failed that test, and now he’ll spend more than 17 years paying for it. As heroin continues to ravage communities across North Carolina, federal and local authorities are sending a clear message—dealers, even those on second chances, will face relentless pursuit and harsh justice.

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