Arrests lead to long sentences in Duplin
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on November 11, 2004 1:59 PM
KENANSVILLE -- Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace said Wednesday that four of the drug cases he turned over to the U.S. Attorney General's Office have received lengthy sentences.
The sentences were meted out Tuesday in federal court in Raleigh:
*Jerome Donnell Kornegay of Warsaw received 18 years in federal prison for trafficking in crack cocaine in late 2002.
*Jacob Valesquez of Rose Hill received nine years in federal prison for trafficking in cocaine and weapons charges in the spring of 2003.
*Leavone Carra of Magnolia received 15 years in federal prison for trafficking in cocaine in late 2002.
*Manuel Flores of Rose Hill received seven years in federal prison for trafficking in cocaine and weapons charges in the spring of 2003.
The federal prosecutors don't just take any case, said Wallace. They examine each one carefully.
"It speaks for our drug unit that they can provide a case on the level of federal officers," he said.
The charges were initiated through undercover drug purchases.
Wallace said he passed the cases on to the U.S. attorney's office so the defendants would "get more time. And once they're in the federal system, it provides an incentive to provide information about their criminal activity."