Robeson County woman stopped with fentanyl in child car seat receives 25-year sentence

The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C.
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Dec. 23—LUMBERTON — A Robeson County woman was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for conspiring to distribute four hundred grams or more of fentanyl and for possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

On April 7, 2022, Jania Delicia Leggett, 28, pled guilty to the charges.

U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III delivered the sentencing.

"This year alone, the DEA reports that it has seized enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American," said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. "This defendant was not only trafficking a deadly drug but doing so with children and assault weapons in close proximity — even allowing a small child to handle fentanyl."

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Leggett ran a house used to distribute fentanyl in Lumberton from April through September of 2020. Witnesses reported to law enforcement that they had also seen AR-15-style rifles and small children in the house that Leggett used as a hub for her fentanyl sales. The investigation revealed that Leggett was responsible for distributing over 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl during that six-month period.

In October of 2020, investigators learned that Leggett and her significant other, Clarence Graham, had moved their drug sales to a Lumberton-area hotel. Lumberton Police Department detectives performed a traffic stop on Leggett and Graham as they left the hotel on Oct. 13, 2020. When detectives approached Leggett and Graham's vehicle, they observed that Leggett had a .40 caliber handgun in her lap and that there was a small child in the backseat holding a bag of fentanyl. Detectives then searched the vehicle and a storage unit in Graham's name and found a total of 334.98 grams of fentanyl, $46,647 in cash, an additional handgun in Leggett's purse, and a variety of items used to package drugs for sale.

The Lumberton Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Webb prosecuted the case.