Sampson kingpin gets 50 years

Aug. 15—A notorious Sampson County drug kingpin was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison last week for operating an armed trafficking operation. Jimmy McKoy Rouse, 26, who had evaded serious punishment for years due to his resources and violent intimidation tactics, has been brought to justice by a collaboration between local and federal law enforcement and the community.

The sentencing and details of the case were announced in a press conference held at the Sampson County Sheriff's Office on Monday.

"This federal convinction without question makes the people of this county so much safer," Sheriff Jimmy Thornton said. "You cannot imagine all that Mr. Rouse was involved with during his tenure as a hardcore criminal."

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Michael Easley, thanked the Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Division for their work building a sturdy case against Rouse. "At a time when law enforcement is too often asked to do more with less and threats against law enforcement and their safety seem to be on the rise, the Sheriff's Office did not back down from the challenge."

Easley pointed out the massive amount of hours the division put into conducting surveillance, carrying out controlled buys of illegal drugs, interviewing witnesses and preparing the case to ensure a solid conviction. He also noted the importance of a community effort.

"We also have to remember that true success is only possible when brave members of the community also have the courage to stand up and say that we have had enough," Easley declared. "Enough of the violence, enough of the drug trafficking on our block. After years of work, it took true law enforcement and community collaboration and partnership to dismantle this criminal organization, and that requires trust."

Rouse's wrap sheet goes back to 2014 and he accumulated charges each year leading him to get on the fed's radar around 2016. In 2017, he was arrested for two separate incidents of armed home invasion and shooting into a rival gang's vehicle that was mostly occupied by children. In 2020, he was apprehended and arrested for a kidnapping in connection with a robbery committed the year prior.

Each time, the cases could not be prosecuted because of the grip of terror Rouse had on the community, officials said. No witnesses were willing to testify. "He wanted to be known as an enforcer in the gang world," Easley remarked.

He was convicted on drug charges in 2017 but received no prison time. There was no conviction for the 15 other felony charges Rouse racked up in that year alone. Incidentally, while Rouse was in detention that year awaiting trial, his father Jimmy McKoy Rouse, Sr., was charged with sexually assaulting a child. Rouse Sr. was convicted of indecent liberties in Sampson County in 2018.

Easley emphasized that the justice system was determined not to make the mistake of being so light-handed again. "The court noted the need to protect the public, the people of Sampson County, and noted that leniency in the past had only emboldened Rouse's criminal behavior. That cycle had to stop," Easley stated. "And thanks to the hard work of the Sampson County Sheriff's Office, now it has."

Rouse operated his drug operations out of stash houses scattered across Sampson County and motel rooms, principally at Days Inn in Clinton, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Knott, the lead investigator on the case. The drug transactions occured "constantly throughout each day."

His stash houses were in Garland, Clinton and near Newton Grove. He would frequently rotate because, as testified to at trial, each house was always shot up in some kind of gun conflict, causing him to move.

U.S. Attorney Easley commented on the locales used to push narcotics into the community. "Witnesses described seeing drugs, guns and cash whereever Rouse operated," Easley stressed. "Stash housees like these can turn a thriving neighborhood into communities that are rife with drug addiction and gunfire. Day and night these locations served as drug markets, a revolving door where those who worked for Rouse sold his drugs, but always took him the cash."

The large-scale drug dealer was found to be accountable for more than nine kilograms of pure methamphetamine, totalling 30,000 doses as a conservative estimate. He also trafficked in large quantities of heroin, assorted pills, cocaine, crack and other controlled substances. Many of Rouse's co-conspirators — including his cartel-linked suppliers — have also been charged, a dozen of which have been prosecuted federally and sentenced to a collective 150 years of prison time. Law enforcement seized ammunition, extended magazines and a AK-47 pistol-grip assault rifle Rouse was known to carry.

After a week-long trial, an Eastern North Carolina jury convicted Rouse, and Judge James C. Dever III handed down the sentence. Assistant Attorney Knott expected the previously Teflon defendant to file an appeal and seek other means of shortening his sentence. But there is no parole in the federal system, so "50 years is 50 years," he pointed out. However, there is a mechanism by which Rouse could get about two months shaved off his sentence each year if he can only manage one thing: good behavior.

The U.S. Attorney announced his Violent Crime Action Plan to target other violent crimes. "To those who traffick in guns, drugs and violence, let Rouse's 50-year sentence be a warning," Easley pronounced. "You will be found. You will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Knott, who is assigned to enforcing the plan in this region, praises the collaborators he has found here.

"The Special Investigations Division of the Sampson County Sheriff's Office are the real unsung heroes of this case," he announced. "They kept fighting, they kept investigating, they kept providing great work, regardless of Mr. Rouse's antics — they kept moving the ball forward."

Sheriff Thornton signalled the continuation of that work ethic. "We're not going to give up, put up or shut up until we deal with all those thugs out there that disrupt our lives."

India K. Autry can be reached at 910-249-4617.