292 Month Sentence Handed Down for Pamlico County Drug Trafficker

RALEIGH, N.C. – A man from Oriental, North Carolina was sentenced today to over 24 years in prison for the distribution of controlled substances in Pamlico county.  On February 24, 2021, Kenneth Franklin Hill, Jr., 47, pled guilty to related to the distribution of methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. 

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Hill’s prosecution is the result of an investigation, led by this Office in conjunction with local, state, and federal authorities, into several drug traffickers operating in Pamlico and Craven counties.  After conducting several controlled purchases of methamphetamine from Hill, authorities arrested him on December 9, 2019.  That day, Hill led Pamlico County Sheriff’s Deputies on a high-speed chase, ramming patrol cars and running a school bus full of children off the road.  The chase ended before any serious injuries occurred when Deputies fired shots at Hill’s vehicle, disabling it.

In total, investigators attributed over 2,000 grams of cocaine, 1,000 grams of methamphetamine, and 1,200 grams of heroin to Hill – drugs that were distributed into the community from 2016 until his arrest on December 9, 2019.  As the Court noted in today’s hearing, a 292-month sentence ensures a message is sent to the citizens of Pamlico County: decades of planting seeds of poison in a community will end in a significant and detrimental harvest.

G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III. Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the District Attorney’s Office for the Prosecutorial District 4 assisted with the investigation of the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney J.D. Koesters prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:20-CR-85-D.