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Former NC police officer convicted of drug trafficking

A federal jury on Monday convicted a former Windsor police officer of serving as an armed escort for a drug trafficking operation.

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Operation Rockfish
RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal jury on Monday convicted a former Windsor police officer of serving as an armed escort for a drug trafficking operation.

Antonio Tillmon, 33, was found guilty of multiple counts of conspiring to distribute controlled substances, attempting to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, conspiring to use and carry firearms in relation to drug trafficking offenses, using and carrying firearms in relation to drug trafficking offenses and bribery. He will be sentenced in August.

Tillman was a Windsor police officer when he was among 15 people charged in a drug sting dubbed "Operation Rockfish" two years ago. Seven of them were Northampton County deputies, while three were North Carolina corrections officers and two others were corrections officers in Virginia.

Testimony and evidence presented during the trial showed that Tillmon accepted $6,500 from undercover FBI agents posing as drug traffickers in return for transporting a total of 30 kilograms of heroin from North Carolina to Maryland on three separate occasions between August 2014 and April 2015. On each occasion, Tillmon carried his badge and gun to secure the illicit narcotics and to evade any drug interdiction effort if his vehicle was stopped.

The evidence also showed that Tillmon agreed to participate in a fourth drug transport, to which he brought five firearms, including an assault rifle accompanied by three magazines of ammunition.

The other 14 defendants have already pleaded guilty to various drug and weapons charges and are awaiting sentencing.

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