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A federal jury convicted a Wilmington man May 26 on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute one kilogram or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectible amount of phencyclidine (PCP), a quantity of cocaine, heroin and marijuana and possession with the intent to distribute a quantity of PCP and aiding and abetting, according to a press release from the Department of Justice, Eastern District of North Carolina.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Rashawn Aki Simon, 46, utilized connections for a large-scale drug trafficking organization in New York City, New York to import various drugs into North Carolina for distribution for a number of years.

“In March, 2019, Rashawn Simon ordered multiple pounds of liquid PCP that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) along with Sampson County Sheriff’s Office intercepted while in-route to Wilmington, North Carolina where Rashawn Simon was awaiting its deliver,” stated the release. “The DEA, Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office coordinated a controlled delivery that ultimately lead to Rashawn Simon’s arrest. During the trial, the testifying officers and agents stated uniformly that the seizure of PCP was the largest quantity of PCP that any of them had seen at one time. Conservatively, the quantity of PCP seized equated to thousands of individual doses.”

Simon faces a sentence of up to life in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced during the September 7, 2021 term of court.

G. Norman Acker III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan accepted the verdict. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Sampson County Sheriff’s Office and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office are the investigating parties in the case; Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Knott prosecuted and tried the case.

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