CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. sentenced today Anthony Latrel Player, 28, of Charlotte, to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Player was also ordered to serve four years under court supervision after he is released from prison.

Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office, and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, beginning in December 2016, law enforcement identified Player as a regional drug trafficker of a Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) distributing heroin in the greater Charlotte area.  Court records show that Player trafficked over 100 grams of heroin, often mixed with other drugs, to include Fentanyl. Court records also show that on January 26, 2017, Player sold approximately two grams of heroin for $200 to a 27-year-old female, who later died of a drug overdose.  Player continued to sell heroin until he was arrested in July 2017. Court records show that over the course of the investigation, law enforcement determined that Player conducted drug sales at or near a playground in Charlotte, and, at times, he used the playground equipment as a designated drop-off area for drugs and money.  On July 25, 2017, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Player’s residence, seizing narcotics, $545 in cash, and two loaded firearms.

In sentencing Player, Judge Cogburn commented on this nation’s opioid epidemic, and stated that Player’s drug cocktails had a devastating effect on the community.

Player is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

U.S. Attorney Murray thanks the DEA and CMPD for leading this investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sanjeev Bhasker, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.

SOURCE- THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ)

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