By WECT Staff | July 15, 2020 at 1:14 PM EDT – Updated July 15 at 1:14 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) – The leader of a Brunswick County gang is headed to prison for nearly three decades after pleading guilty to federal drug charges, according to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Nicholas Shamar Griffin, the head of the Tabor City Bloods, was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday to 29 years behind bars after previously entering guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine and 280 grams or more of cocaine base (crack), and possession with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine and aiding and abetting.
Prosecutors said investigators determined in 2017 and 2018 that Griffin, 40, was a significant supplier of controlled substances in Brunswick County and that he was the highest-ranking member of the Bloods street gang in the county.
On July 31, 2018, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that Griffin was driving. Prosecutors said Griffin and two passengers appeared nervous during the traffic stop.
All three were asked to get out of the vehicle. As one of the passengers exited, he dropped two baggies containing nearly 56 grams of cocaine on the ground and kicked it behind the rear tire of the vehicle. Griffin would later admit that the cocaine was his.
Two months later, on September 28, 2018, Griffin got into a gang-related argument with a victim. Prosecutors said Griffin shot the victim in the back as they walked away.
Griffin then fled to South Carolina to hide from law enforcement but was eventually caught in North Myrtle Beach on November 29, 2018.
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