Judge sentences Morganton methamphetamine trafficker to over 17 years

U.S. District Judge Matthew E. Orso sentenced Reginald Curtis, 47, of Morganton, to 210 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release Oct. 7 for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

“People like Curtis, who traffic methamphetamine by the kilogram, are supplying the drug dealers,” Ferguson said. “Getting wholesale drug distributors off the street is a key step in making our communities safer, and the community won’t have to worry about Curtis for another 17 years.”

According to court records, law enforcement determined that Curtis was trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine in Burke and Catawba counties.

During an undercover controlled purchase in December 2023, Curtis sold an undercover officer nearly half a kilogram of methamphetamine. During a second controlled purchase in January 2024, the undercover officer purchased from Curtis approximately a kilogram of methamphetamine. In August 2024, officers with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on Curtis’s vehicle. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, the deputies located approximately 1.2 kilograms of methamphetamine inside the vehicle.

In October 2025, Curtis pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting. This investigation was led by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Burke County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Wiseman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.