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A federal jury convicted a Raleigh man October 13 on charges of possession with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine, possession of firearms by a convicted felon and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of North Carolina.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Keith Lamont Thompson Jr., 27, possessed two firearms and over two ounces of powder cocaine. On July 6, 2019, officers with the Raleigh Police Department received information that Thompson was in possession of cocaine and multiple firearms at his apartment in Raleigh, according to the release.

“When Raleigh Police executed the search warrant, they learned that Thompson had ordered a female subject to hide his guns and drugs in her car,” stated the release. “Officers searched the car and recovered 90 grams of cocaine and two firearms, including one that had been reported stolen. Further investigation revealed that Thompson was a convicted felon on active state probation for selling cocaine at the time of the July 6 search.”

Thompson faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of life in prison when sentenced in January 2022. The release stated that Thompson also faces enhanced sentencing penalties as a career offender due to a conviction in 2014 for robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping, as well as a conviction in 2018 for possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine. He faces a guideline range of 360 months to life imprisonment.

G. Norman Acker III, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III accepted the verdict. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Raleigh Police Department investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aakash Singh prosecuted.

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