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CHARLOTTE — The last of 10 defendants charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in Anson and Union counties was sentenced on Monday to serve 210 months in prison, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Court Judge Frank D. Whitney also ordered the defendant, Adrian Parker, 28, of Wadesboro, N.C., to serve four years of supervised release following his prison term. Parker pleaded guilty to the charge in October 2010.

In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney Tompkins praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations, the Wadesboro Police Department, the Anson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. The five law enforcement agencies are partner members of the Charlotte FBI Safe Streets Task Force, which is dedicated to investigating violent crime and making our streets and communities safer.

The May 2010 indictment charged the 10 defendants with participating in a drug conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in Anson and Union counties and elsewhere in Western North Carolina from about 2007 through May 2010. The other nine defendants also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and were sentenced as follows:

• Cedrick Little, 23, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 20 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
• Shaun Burns, 34, of Peachland — sentenced in November 2011 to serve 56 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
• Gecoby Hailey, 27, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 30 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.
• Clayton C. Kersey, 23, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
• Duncan O. Borden, 31, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 60 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.
• Katrina Gould, 41, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 120 months in prison, followed by eight years of supervised release.
• Jasmine Gatewood, 23, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
• Paul Long, 27, of Wadesboro — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 78 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.
• Harvey Lee Sturdivant, 33, of Peachland — sentenced in May 2011 to serve 70 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

The case was referred to the FBI Safe Streets Task Force by the Wadesboro Police Department to address the growing gang problem in the town of Wadesboro, with emphasis placed on the gang activity, violence, and the narcotics distribution concentrated on Salisbury Street, U.S. Highway 74. The activity consisted of shootings, robberies, weapons offenses, threats on law enforcement and narcotics distribution, mainly crack cocaine.

Parker has been in local federal custody since May 2010. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The prosecution for the government is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.