A Wayne County man was found guilty by a federal grand jury of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl.
Donte Terrill Kornegay, aka “Boston”, was found guilty on Friday by a federal jury sitting in New Bern.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced the case involved the overdose death by fentanyl of a twenty-one year old victim in Sneads Ferry. Trial testimony and text messages and phone toll records recovered from witnesses’ cell phones established that on the night of April 6, 2016, the victim purchased fentanyl from a co-conspirator, at the direction of Kornegay. In addition, the trial testimony revealed that prior to that night, Kornegay had been distributing heroin in the Sneads Ferry area since 2015.
Sentencing is scheduled for the February 2020. Kornegay could face a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count, a $1,000,000 fine, and supervised release following any active jail sentence.
“The United States Justice Department and the United States Attorney’s Office are aggressively pursuing distributors of heroin and fentanyl,” US Attorney Higdon said. “These drugs pose a serious danger to the people of Eastern North Carolina and we intend to remove that danger as part of our effort to “Take Back North Carolina” from the drug traffickers and violent criminals.”
The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Wilmington Resident Office, conducted the investigation in this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Ethan Ontjes and Toby Lathan represented the government.
