Goldsboro man pleads guilty in federal court
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on November 12, 2009 1:46 PM
GREENVILLE -- A Goldsboro man has pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.
Rowland Philip Robinson, 33, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate David W. Daniel to violating Title 18, Section 924(c) of the United State Code.
A federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment in the case in May.
On July 16, 2008, the Goldsboro Police Department received a tip that Robinson was selling cocaine and marijuana from a home on North William Street and that he also had a firearm.
After further investigation, a search warrant was obtained and executed.
Seized from Robinson's bedroom were 120 grams of crack cocaine, two other plastic bags of crack cocaine and marijuana, a North Carolina Department of Corrections ID card bearing the name and picture of Robinson, and a box of sandwich bags, a razor blade with white powder substance, and two sets of digital scales along with a Rossi .38 caliber handgun.
Other items with in the house that were seized included a police scanner and a Davis Industries .380 caliber handgun. On Robinson's person police found one bag containing 20 grams of cocaine, two orange pills, and $980.
The maximum penalty for the charge is up to a life term of imprisonment followed by up to five years supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
The case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods, which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified team effort against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Goldsboro Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Assistant United States Attorney William Gilmore represented the government.