WILMINGTON — One of the 12 people charged with running a drug trafficking organization out of the Maxton area has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Torrey Locklear, 37, accepted a plea agreement at his arraignment. He was one of the people charged in the wake of a federal investigation in which law enforcement personnel case say more than a ton of marijuana and several kilograms of cocaine were distributed.

“Torrey Locklear pleaded guilty to count one, conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana, a quantity of cocaine, and a quantity of cocaine base,” a Department of Justice spokesperson said Thursday. “(Other) counts will be dismissed at sentencing. The actual plea agreement is sealed and not available to the public.”

The plea agreement between Locklear and the Department of Justice has been accepted by a judge. Its terms will not be made public until after his sentencing hearing, currently scheduled for Sept. 11. He is being held until the case concludes after waiving a detention hearing.

The eight counts to be dismissed as part of the deal are for drug distribution. Those charges stem from dozens of controlled narcotics purchases made by informants who were working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to court documents. The indictment charges 24 of those buys took place between May 5, 2016, and Feb. 17, 2017.

In March a criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court naming seven people in a criminal organization led by Mitchell Ray Locklear, also known as Black Mitchell. One FBI agent wrote in an affidavit that he was the North Carolina point man for a criminal narcotics organization with ties to Texas, Louisiana and Mexico.

Mitchell Locklear is the beaver clan chief of the Tuscarora Nation. Court documents have many drug deals and conversations about trafficking happening around Tuscarora Nation Road, where Mitchell Locklear lives, and references to drugs being stored in the Tuscarora community center and gym.

Mitchell Ray Locklear; his son, Christopher Mitchell Locklear, 34; Timmy Lloyd Hunt, 42; Torrey Locklear, 37; Kevin Dwayne Revels, 35; Brandon Darris Locklear, all of Maxton; Kevin Jeffery Clark Jr., also known as White Boy Kel, of Rowland; Archie Lynn Strickland, also known as Lump, of Fairmont; Austin Aaron Godwin of Pembroke; Eliseo Enriquez Jr. of Fayetteville; Andrea True Brayboy, also known as Angie, of Lumberton; and Andres Garza were indicted on conspiracy to distribute narcotics charges.

Federal and local law enforcement arrested six defendants after a raid on March 16. Authorities seized dozens of firearms and more than $168,000 in cash.

An indictment charging all members with drug distribution and firearms offenses was presented in April.

One member of the alleged conspiracy, Garza, has not been captured by law enforcement. All other of those charged have made first appearances in front of a magistrate.

Torrey Locklear
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Torrey-Locklear201768164726780.jpgTorrey Locklear

By Mike Gellatly

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Reach Mike Gellatly at 910-816-1989 or via Twitter @MikeGellatly