Federal Jury Convicts Wayne County Methamphetamine Trafficker

NEW BERN, N.C. - A federal jury convicted a <_w3a_sdt docpart="6686A3A1AD7C4358A146949254A4C144" id="529912395" sdttag="City" title="City">Goldsboro man on three charges of trafficking methamphetamine. Tamarcus Shaquan Ellis, age 34, faces up to life in prison when sentenced in December.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were investigating Ellis as part of an operation targeting crystal methamphetamine dealers operating in Goldsboro and Jacksonville in early 2021. By late March 2021, the ATF had arrested a number of high-level methamphetamine traffickers and began targeting Ellis' drug trafficking organization.

Over the course of multiple months in the Spring of 2021, investigators used a confidential source to make controlled purchases of methamphetamine from Ellis' organization. Due to the number of takedowns of other methamphetamine traffickers in February and March of 2021, Ellis went to great lengths to avoid direct involvement in the drug transactions. In addition to counter-surveilling buy locations for law enforcement presence, Ellis also made last minute changes to the buy location in order to limit the risk of detection. Ellis also used low-level underlings in his organization to deliver the drugs while he monitored the drug deal from nearby. The underlings testified at trial that Ellis supplied them with drugs for the delivery to the confidential source.

Ellis was convicted of a conspiracy to distribute and posses with the intent to distribute fifty (50) grams or more of methamphetamine and two counts of distributing five (5) grams of or more of methamphetamine.

This investigation was 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 <_w3a_sdt combobox="t" docpart="7FDE8AE4BEC14574813A803D83501E3C" id="-206649939" sdttag="Judge" title="Judge"><_w3a_listitem listvalue="Choose an item."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle" listvalue="U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan" listvalue="U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III" listvalue="U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II" listvalue="Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Senior U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt" listvalue="Senior U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Senior U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard" listvalue="Senior U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard"> U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan accepted the verdict. <_w3a_sdt docpart="A3184CFF75674D3CAE3A24397408C0E2" id="-842703485" sdttag="Law Enforcement Agencies" title="Law Enforcement Agencies">The ATF and ATF Task Force Officers from the Goldsboro Police Department and the Jacksonville Police Department investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorneys <_w3a_sdt docpart="CDFF643A7501428C8C4610AA094BE5B7" id="-178118984" sdttag="AUSA/SAUSA" title="AUSA/SAUSA">Nick Hartigan and Dennis Duffy prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on our website. 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.<_w3a_sdt docpart="D1346516FBDC4F789F7E51D13218527B" id="-1734377804" sdttag="Case No." title="Case No.">5:21-CR-273-FL.