SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — After an investigation by the Wilmington Police Department Vice and Narcotics Unit, a Wilmington man was convicted of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and for owning a firearm as a felon.
Rasul Gatford, 31, pled guilty to the charges on March 30. He received 74 months in prison for the felonies in North Carolina’s Eastern District.
At the time of this offense, Gatford was on federal supervised release for a 2013 conviction for using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and aiding and abetting.
WPD began an investigation in October 2021 and arrested Gatford on Oct. 28 for distributing cocaine. Officers found more of the drug on Gatford and in his home, along with marijuana, drug manufacturing equipment and a firearm.
The FBI’s Coastal Carolina Safe Streets Gang Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Wilmington Police Department all investigated 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.
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