RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Authorities say a marijuana odor so strong it wafted from car to car led to heroin and firearm convictions and sentencing for a North Carolina man.
The Raleigh-based U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release that Preston Miles, 35, of Kittrell, was sentenced to more than six years in prison Thursday. He had pleaded guilty late last year to possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine, as well as a firearms charge.
The news release said a Franklinton police officer observed that Miles was driving a car with heavily tinted windows in July of 2018 and noticed a strong smell of marijuana when he began to follow him.
Upon stopping Miles, the officer noticed several marijuana joints, according to the news release. Officers searching the car say they noticed a gap in the carpet of the trunk and found bricks of heroin amounting to about 100 doses. Authorities say they found other drug supplies and a gun.
The news release says that officers monitored jail communications and overheard Miles telling a woman to remove another brick of drugs from the car. Authorities say they then searched the car and found more heroin and cocaine, as well as another gun.
Defense attorney Meredith Hubbard of Raleigh said in a statement that her client “accepted responsibility at an early stage, knowing he would receive a significant prison sentence.”
“We appreciate the efforts by the US Attorney’s Office in getting this case resolved. Mr. Miles intends to treat his time in the Bureau of Prisons as an opportunity for reflection and rehabilitation,” she said. “He has a lot of family support in the community, and this is a difficult situation for all involved.”
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