Harold Lee Jackson, 58, of Statesville, was sentenced to serve seven to 10 years in prison following his conviction for trafficking cocaine by possession and possession with intent to sell/deliver cocaine during Catawba County Superior Court on Monday, June 1, 2026.
The Honorable Athena F. Brooks, Superior Court Judge from Henderson County, imposed terms of the active sentence after Jackson entered a guilty plea, along with a mandatory fine of $100,000.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
On March 15, 2022, the defendant was stopped for speeding on Interstate 40, and a K9 unit alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle. A search of the trunk area led to the recovery and seizure of a carboard box containing a trafficking amount of cocaine.
Jackson had been under surveillance by law enforcement officers, and he admitted to investigators that he got the cocaine from a home he was at before the stop was made.
Kyle Lawrence handled the investigation for the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant District Attorney Melanie Earles prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Jordan Arney.