Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. ordered Malik Eli Davis, 41, of Charlotte, to serve 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release for drug and gun charges, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  

Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer is joined in making today’s announcement by Vincent C. Pallozzi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).

According to filed court documents and information at today’s sentencing hearing, in June 2019, CMPD officers learned that Davis was dealing cocaine from motel room in Charlotte. On June 29, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the motel room and Davis’s vehicle. Law enforcement recovered from the room cocaine, various material that indicated Davis was manufacturing crack cocaine, other drug paraphernalia, more than $2,800 in cash, and a loaded firearm. Court records show that law enforcement found in Davis’s vehicle a semi-automatic pistol loaded with a high capacity magazine and over $1,600 in cash.

Davis pleaded guilty on November 12, 2020, to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm by a felon. Under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, Davis qualified for a sentencing enhancement due to his prior criminal convictions and was sentenced as an armed career criminal.

Davis is currently in federal custody. He will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon the designation of a federal facility. 

The investigation was handled by the ATF and CMPD.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Hess of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.

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