A Lumberton man was sentenced on January 8, 2024 to 120 months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of North Carolina. Elhodge Malik Kirby, 48, pleaded guilty to the charges on September 26, 2023.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, on August 17, 2021, officers with the Wilmington Police Department and New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Mobile Field Force conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle in which Kirby was the front seat passenger.
“A narcotics K9 responded to the scene and detected the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle and officers conducted a search,” stated the release. “In a plastic bag on the front passenger’s floorboard, officers located approximately 24 grams of a heroin and fentanyl mixture, approximately 11 grams of crack cocaine, a digital scale with white powdery residue, and a Narcan box containing 157 empty and unused wax bindles used to package narcotics. Under the front passenger’s seat, officers located a .22 caliber pistol. Subsequent laboratory testing revealed the presence of Kirby’s DNA on the pistol.”