Prisoner Sentenced to Additional 30 Years for Drug Trafficking in Multiple North Carolina Counties Using Contraband Prison Cellphones

GREENSBORO – ENIS DAUTI was sentenced today to 360 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston of the Middle District of North Carolina (MDNC).  

According to court records, DAUTI, age 38, was serving a 108-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in 2016 in the MDNC and was scheduled to be released from federal prison in August 2023. At the time of the offense, DAUTI was incarcerated at Northlake Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Michigan. 

Over the course of several months in 2021 and 2022, DAUTI organized multiple sales of methamphetamine that involved codefendants SCOTT ALAN SHORES, ASHLEY NICOLE MORROW, AMY ELLISSA HAMMER, and DANIEL WAYNE MIZE in Davidson and Chatham counties. Each sale involved DAUTI managing the sale of drugs using a contraband prison cellphone to communicate with his codefendants and organize the shipment of methamphetamine through the mail. SHORES, MORROW, HAMMER, and MIZE were indicted alongside DAUTI on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute quantities of methamphetamine.

DAUTI was sentenced today to a 360-month term of imprisonment and seven years of supervised release by the Honorable Catherine C. Eagles, Chief United States District Judge in the United States District Court for the MDNC. 

“This case is a perfect example of the danger contraband cellphones present in our prison facilities,” said United States Attorney Sandra Hairston.  “With a contraband cellphone, inmates can continue to run their drug enterprises or commit other crimes from their prison cells.  Today’s sentence sends a clear message that such flagrant disrespect for the rule of law will not be tolerated.”

The case was investigated by United States Postal Inspection Service, the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lindsey Freeman and Kyle Pousson.  

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