Wilmington man pleads guilty to drug and gun charges
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington man will spend at least five years in prison after pleading guilty to numerous drug and gun charges.
James Stavely, 35, is guilty of possession of firearm by felon, possession of intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin, possession of heroin, and driving while impaired.
On October 2, 2021, Wilmington Police Department found Stavely asleep behind the wheel of a GMC Envoy while the vehicle was parked in the left turn lane near the intersection of Shipyard
Boulevard and Carolina Beach Road.
After waking Stavely, police used a K9 that alerted police to the presence of drugs. Officers found 59 bindles of heroin underneath the driver’s seat of the car along with a Kel-Tec .380 caliber handgun. Stavely has prior felony drug and firearm convictions and is not allowed to own a gun. Officers then found a black box concealed under the center console of the vehicle which contained 7 grams of raw heroin and 188 grams of methamphetamine.
Then, in December of 2022, Wilmington Police stopped Stavely when he was driving erratically on Lullwater Drive. Once he was stopped, Stavely was unsteady on his feet and lethargic. Officers searched his vehicle and found a backpack containing a pill bottle which was filled with 16 bindles of heroin.
“The combination of drugs and illicit firearms has resulted in deadly consequences throughout our community, and when you accompany that with the inherently dangerous act of impaired driving, like we saw with this defendant, then you are creating a recipe for disaster,” District Attorney Ben David said.
