Captain A.M. Harris of the City County Drug Task Force said agents found marijuana in the sweatshirt pocket of Michael Rakim Belfield as well as crack cocaine hidden in his buttocks.
Local agents, along with an officer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives located Belfield this morning at a residence in the 100 block of Hamilton Street to serve him the federal warrants, Harris said in a statement.
The three-count federal indictment, handed down in Raleigh Tuesday, charges in the first count Belfield, on April 16 of last year, having already been convicted of a crime punishable by a prison term of more than one year, knowingly possessed a firearm in violation of United States Code.
The second count charges that on the same date in April he knowingly and intentionally possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute while in the third count he possessed a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Belfield is scheduled for an initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Raleigh at 10 a.m. before Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II, according to federal court records.
The federal charges against Belfield stem from his arrest last year on Dickens Avenue outside Roanoke Rapids where task force agents found 36 bindles of heroin.
Harris said there is the possibility Belfield could face more federal charges based on his arrest today after he was reportedly found in possession of approximately 5 grams of crack cocaine, a user amount of marijuana and a stolen handgun from Northampton County.
Harris said in the statement Agent J. Matthews will charge Belfield with felon in possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property, possess marijuana up to one-half ounce, felony possession of cocaine and possession with the intent to sell and deliver cocaine.
Harris said agents noticed marijuana and several items of drug paraphernalia in plain view inside the residence. During the search of the residence, agents located crack cocaine, marijuana, another handgun and several items of drug paraphernalia.
Meanwhile, Matthews cited Raheem Lamar Mallory, 20, of Roanoke Rapids, for possession of marijuana up to one-half ounce and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.
He also arrested and charged Lindale Burgess, 59, for possession of marijuana up to one-half ounce, possession of marijuana paraphernalia, felony possession of cocaine, maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Burgess received a $5,000 bond and was confined to the Halifax County Detention Center. Mallory and Burgess, who Harris described as friends of Belfield, have January 18 court dates.
ATF Task Force Officer M. Newsome responded to the residence to assist.
Belfield was transported to a detention center in the Eastern District of North Carolina where he will be held until his first appearance in federal court.