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.
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