Gaston County Methamphetamine Trafficker Is Sentenced To More Than 23 Years In Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. sentenced Patrick Andrew Shomo, 42, of Gastonia, N.C., to 286 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine and for violating the terms of his federal supervised release, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to filed documents and today’s sentencing hearing, between December 2021 and February 2022, Shomo was trafficking methamphetamine in and around Gaston County. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement conducted several controlled drug buys of methamphetamine with Shomo. Law enforcement conducting surveillance also observed Shomo engage in drug transactions with other individuals. On December 15, 2021, law enforcement searched the hotel room where Shomo had been staying, from which they recovered digital drug scales, Xanax pills, fentanyl, more than half a kilogram of methamphetamine, and 17 rounds of ammunition.

During that time, Shomo was on federal supervised release after serving a term of imprisonment for an armed drug trafficking conviction. On February 15, 2022, law enforcement attempted to arrest Shomo at his residence on a supervised release violation arrest warrant. Shomo refused to comply and instead barricaded himself in the residence with two firearms. After several hours, law enforcement were able to arrest Shomo and recover from the residence the firearms and additional narcotics.

On July 26, 2022, Shomo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and distribution of methamphetamine. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King credited an investigation led by the Western District’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and thanked the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Gastonia Police Department, the Gaston County Police Department, and the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction’s Division of Community Supervision for their investigative efforts.

Assistant United States Attorney Steven R. Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles criminal organizations using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.