NEWTON, NC (January 21, 2020) — Jakime Raheim Whiteside, 26, of Hudson, will serve an active prison sentence of six to eight years following his conviction for felony trafficking methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The Honorable Alan Z. Thornburg, Superior Court Judge from Buncombe County, imposed the prison term after Whiteside pleaded guilty to the charges against him during Caldwell County Superior Court on Friday, January 17, 2020.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Narcotics agents with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation of Whiteside and the distribution of illegal drugs in September 2018. Officers made controlled buys using a confidential informant at two locations where the defendant was present.
On September 18, 2018, agents from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, members of its SWAT Team and detectives from Lenoir Police Department executed a search warrant at a Lenoir residence where Whiteside stated he lived.
They recovered several baggies containing a controlled substance as well as a handgun. The controlled substance was sent to the State Crime Lab and determined to be various mixtures of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine. Small amounts of marijuana also were seized.
Whiteside previously had been convicted of possession of a Schedule II controlled substance in McDowell County in 2017.
Chris Everhart investigated the case for the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office. Nancy Lee prosecuted the matter for the District Attorney’s Office.