Hickory Man Armed With “Ghost” AR-15 Is Sentenced To Prison For Gun Charges  

Charlotte -- June 27, 2024: Press Release: United States Attorney's Office Western North Carolina District:
Kadeem Jamal Albright, 30, of Hickory, was sentenced today to 120

months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for firearms offenses, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Reed Baer of the Hickory Police Department (HPD) join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and court proceedings, on December 27, 2022, at approximately 11:22 p.m., HPD officers received a call for service for a hit-and-run incident involving a silver vehicle near Main Avenue in Hickory. Officers responding to the call located the silver vehicle and determined Albright was the driver. The officers attempted to pull the vehicle over. Albright initially did not comply, but eventually stopped the vehicle. Albright was intoxicated. Over the course of the traffic stop, the officers searched the vehicle and found more than 9 ounces of marijuana and a loaded .40 cal. pistol underneath the driver’s seat. They also found a bag containing 362 fentanyl pills in the rear passenger area.  Finally, they found almost a pound and a half of marijuana and a loaded short-barrel AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with a drum magazine in the trunk.  Law enforcement determined that the AR-15 was a privately made firearm, commonly referred to as a “ghost gun.”  Albright has prior federal and state criminal felony convictions and he is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

On December 5, 2023, Albright pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm by a felon.  He was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment on each charge with the sentences to run consecutive to one another, for a total sentence of 120 months imprisonment.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the ATF and HPD for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kent of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.