“Crips” gang member receives more than 15 years in federal prison
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WITN) - A Lenoir County man has been sentenced to federal prison on drug charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Wilmington said that 36-year-old Darrell Koonce of Kinston was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he plead guilty in February to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
According to court records, Kinston police said that they pulled Koonce over in July of 2021 for erratic driving. Police said they searched his car after smelling marijuana and found fentanyl and cash.
Police say that Koonce is a member of the Crips Gang and has prior convictions for discharging a weapon into an occupied property in 2006, common law robbery in 2015, assault inflicting serious injury on a detention officer in 2015, and possession of a firearm by a felon 2020.
“As an agency, we’re extremely grateful that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had made it their focal point to assist communities such as Kinston,” said Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette. “This sentence protects our community and places a career criminal where he belongs, in prison.”
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