WILMINGTON — A local man was sentenced to 144 months in prison today possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Charles Nixon, 28, plead guilty to the charges of May 17 after being arrested a year prior by the Wilmington Police Department.
“We are committed to reducing violence and illegal drug distribution within our community and will continue to work tirelessly to create a safe environment for all,” WPD Chief Donny Williams said in a press release.
In May 2021, officers conducted a traffic stop on Nixon for reckless driving and found a AM-15 semi-automatic rifle on the floorboard of the backseat. They discovered Nixon was a convicted felon and had outstanding arrest warrants for cutting off his GPS ankle monitor. Nixon was on supervised release for a 2019 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
Upon further search of the vehicle, officers found an ammunition belt with four rifle magazines, approximately 101 rounds of rifle ammunition, 12 bindles of heroin, digital scales, and miscellaneous drug paraphernalia, along with 38 grams of methamphetamine in the defendant’s pocket.
The FBI’s Coastal Carolina Safe Street’s Gang Task Force, the FBI’s Transnational Organized Crime Western Hemisphere Unit (TOC-West), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the Wilmington Police Department were all involved in the investigation.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone.
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