A Fayetteville man was condemned to spend 24 years in a federal prison for a major drug trafficking conspiracy. Celestio Lefranz Harrington, a 34-year-old from Lillington, faced the stringent sentence after being found responsible for distributing significant amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The official announcement underlines that Harrington's activities would "flood our communities with meth, cocaine, and fentanyl that kill our children and destroy our families." These words by U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle underscore the government's commitment to swiftly dismantle such networks. U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II made the sentencing on Wednesday, as revealed in a statement on a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The heavy sentence arose from an operation initiated in early 2023, where detectives identified Harrington as a drug source in the Fayetteville area. He was apprehended after surveillance activities tracked him to various meetings with suppliers and addicts across state lines.
Detectives found Harrington with approximately 4.4 kilograms of methamphetamine and 4.1 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his car’s trunk. Another search at his apartment revealed even more drugs and packaging paraphernalia. The total amount Harrington distributed was significant—a whopping 180 kilograms of methamphetamine, 15 kilograms of cocaine, and a kilogram of fentanyl. A quantity the U.S. Attorney’s Office remarked was enough to "kill five times the population of Lillington," where Harrington hailed from.
The sentencing was part of "Operation Take Back America," a nation-wide initiative aiming to rapidly eliminate cartels and criminal organizations threatening communities. This campaign combines resources from the Department of Justice, including the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood, to protect citizens from violent crime and drug trafficking operations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Webb was responsible for prosecuting Harrington's case, which was investigated by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
