Wilmington man convicted of selling heroin and fentanyl near UNCW campus

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A man accused of selling drugs near the UNCW campus will spend at least 4 years behind bars.

According to a release from District Attorney Ben David’s office, 48-year-old Antwuan Watson pleaded guilty on Monday to Selling and Possessing with Intent to Sell and Deliver Heroin and Selling and Possessing with the Intent to Sell and Deliver Fentanyl.

Monday’s plea comes following a 2021 investigation and arrest by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the DA’s office, on the evening of February 4th, 2021, a confidential informant working on behalf of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office met Watson in the parking lot of the Seahawk Square apartment complex, where Watson lived. Watson told the confidential informant that he needed to travel to a home on Barclay Hills Drive to pick up the drugs he was going to sell him.

The informant then drove Watson to that location and gave him $50 to make the drug purchase. Watson went inside the residence and returned a few minutes later and gave the informant 50 bindles of what was later discovered to be a mixture containing both heroin and fentanyl.

The entire transaction was captured on video.

Judge Frank Jones of New Hanover County sentenced Watson to a minimum of 4 years and a maximum of nearly 8 years in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.