Repeat Offender: Deported Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Federal Charges Again

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Jamaican man was sentenced today to 204 months in prison for trafficking kilogram quantities of cocaine. On August 17, 2023, Michael Kenroy Bell aka “Jamaica Mike,” age 47, pled guilty to the charges. Bell had been deported to Jamaica on June 25, 2020, after serving a federal sentence for a previous drug trafficking offense and is in the country illegally.

“This career drug trafficker was previously charged, convicted, and deported. This time he was caught trying to dodge accountability with a false identity,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “Drug traffickers operating in Raleigh should take note of this seventeen-year sentence. We are actively partnering with Raleigh Police and the FBI to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking networks like this one.”

According to court documents and other information presented in court, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Raleigh Police Department were involved in an investigation of a drug trafficking organization operating in Raleigh in the Fall of 2021. Through physical and electronic surveillance, including a federal wiretap, Bell was observed interacting frequently with known drug dealers that were subjects of the investigation.

Though he was not charged in the 2021 investigation, Bell remained under surveillance by law enforcement, and, between February and May 2022, was observed making numerous trips between Raleigh and Huntersville, as well as 11 trips to Miami, Florida specifically to purchase cocaine. He was often observed in the 700-block of Quarry Street, which is frequented by members of the Eight Trey Gangster Crips and is known by law enforcement to be a high drug trafficking area.

In June 2022, Bell was pulled over in Florida, and, after detecting an odor of marijuana, officers searched his vehicle and found both cocaine and marijuana. Bell provided law enforcement a fake identification card, but his identity was discovered when he was booked at the local jail. Despite being in custody Bell orchestrated the continuation of his cocaine distribution in the Raleigh area. Bell has a lengthy criminal record including multiple felonies, including a 2009 federal conviction for two drug trafficking charges.

This is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launders, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Raleigh Police Department investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Lemons 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. 5:23-CR-00052-D.