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Press Release

Previously Convicted Drug Trafficker Is Sentenced To 10 Years On Drug Conspiracy Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced today that Christopher Michael Partlow, 46, of Bessemer City, N.C. was sentenced to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release on drug conspiracy charges.  U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. presided over the sentencing.

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division; Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta and the Carolinas; Chief Tom Ellis of the Bessemer City Police Department; and Chief Robert C. Helton of the Gastonia Police Department join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, from 2015 to 2017, Partlow was involved in a drug conspiracy operating in and around Gaston County, responsible for trafficking large amounts of narcotics.  On January 17, 2017, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Partlow’s residence, seizing heroin, crack cocaine, and two firearms.  Partlow has a prior federal drug trafficking conviction and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Partlow pleaded guilty in June 2017 to drug trafficking conspiracy. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

This case stems from an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Murray thanks the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Charlotte Division; ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations in Charlotte; the Bessemer City Police Department; and the Gastonia Police Department for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte was in charge of the prosecution.

Updated March 22, 2018

Topic
Drug Trafficking