CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bobby Lee Fish, Jr., 44, of Catawba, N.C., was sentenced today to 235 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Reed Baer of the Hickory Police Department (HPD), join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, in 2022, HPD was investigating Fish's drug trafficking activities in Catawba County. During the investigation, HPD utilized a confidential informant (CI) to conduct a series of controlled purchases of methamphetamine from Fish. Court records show that one of the drug transactions occurred on April 6, 2022, where Fish sold the CI approximately 52.8 grams of actual methamphetamine. A few days later, on April 21, 2022, Fish sold the CI approximately 105.9 grams of actual methamphetamine. On May 2, 2022, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of Fish's vehicle. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, HPD officers seized four packages from the car. Laboratory testing revealed the packages contained 919.3 grams, 916.9 grams, 918.8 grams, and 919.1 grams of actual methamphetamine, respectively.

On April 3, 2024, Fish pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine. Fish has an extensive criminal history for crimes committed in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. Fish is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

U.S. Attorney King thanked the ATF and HPD for their investigation of the case.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.