The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that yesterday in federal court, before United States District Judge Terrance W. Boyle, JONATHON REX LEACH, 33, of Raleigh, pled guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Trafficking in Contraband Cigarettes.LEACH was indicted on November 21, 2017, along with 4 others members of this criminal enterprise.
During the defendant’s guilty plea hearing, the Government summarized the evidence supporting the defendant’s guilty plea. LEACH, a former member of the U.S. Army, participated in an organized contraband cigarette smuggling enterprise operating between Fort Bragg, North Carolina and New York, New York.