Jacksonville man sentenced to 180 months on drug, firearm charges

ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — A Jacksonville man was sentence to 180 months in prison for trafficking fentanyl while armed with a firearm.

On May 6, Daquan Wainwright, 26, pled guilty to the charges. According to court documents and other information presented in court, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Wainwright for drug trafficking after receiving approximately 15 community complaints regarding his sale of drugs in Onslow County alone.

In 2022, he led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase before getting stuck in a ditch. Law enforcement was able to recover 681 grams of marijuana from the car.

Wainwright was involved in a domestic dispute and additional drug charges later in that same year. He was eventually taken into custody on the scene. He attempted to destroy his phone as he was being handcuffed. The phone was forensically analyzed and contained pictures and other evidence of drug trafficking and firearm possession.

After he was in custody, he continued to direct others to collect debts owed to him for drugs and to provide the payment to his mother.

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