A gang member was sentenced to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to a heroin trafficking charge.
Terrence Orlando Cook, 20, of Castle Hayne, pleaded guilty Monday in New Hanover County Superior Court to charges of trafficking in heroin and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to District Attorney Ben David.
On Aug. 21, 2015, vice and narcotics detectives with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office assisted members of the state’s probation office with a warrantless search of Cook’s home on Memory Lane in Castle Hayne. Cook, a validated gang member, arrived in his Mercedes Benz after being notified about the search of his home, David said.
Law enforcement searched the car and found a handgun between the driver seat and the door. They also located four grams of heroin on the floor board.
“The coordinated efforts of the gang unit, the probation department, and the vice and narcotics division, helped to remove an armed drug trafficker from our streets,” Assistant District Attorney Timothy Severo said.
Severo prosecuted the case for the state. Cook was represented by Thomas Woodrum, a public defender with the New Hanover County Public Defender’s Office.
Superior Court Judge Robert Floyd sentenced Cook to 70-93 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections and ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine.
