A man arrested on drug charges in the Enfield area June 20 has been remanded to federal custody following an initial appearance on his revocation of supervised release, according to court records.

Antonio Nicholson appeared before Magistrate Judge James E. Gates in Raleigh Friday where he was advised of his rights, charges and maximum punishments.

The government moved for his detention and preliminary and detention hearings will be set before Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle on a date and time to be determined.

Nicholson was remanded to the custody of federal marshals.

An unsealed motion for revocation on an offender under supervised release warrant request shows Nicholson was sentenced on July 11, 2011, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 Grams or more of crack and a quantity of marijuana.

He was sentenced to 210 months of prison time and 60 months of supervised release which began on June 15, 2018.

The warrant request notes supervision conditions were modified to add sex offender registration, a psycho-sexual evaluation, and polygraph testing due to a historical sex offense.

Subsequent to his psycho-sexual evaluation and at the recommendation of a doctor, supervision conditions were modified to add alcohol abstinence, participation in substance abuse treatment, and contact with minors.

The defendant tested positive for cocaine. A Violation Report was submitted. Supervision was continued, and he was referred for substance abuse treatment.

The warrant notes his June 20 arrest, which was made by the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office.

“On June 20, 2019, the defendant committed the offenses of felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or distribute marijuana, possession of a firearm by a felon, sell cocaine, deliver cocaine, possession with intent to sell or distribute cocaine, and two charges of (maintaining) a vehicle/dwelling for controlled substances in Halifax County, North Carolina.”

The motion says when confronted about his arrest, “the defendant admitted to possessing marijuana but denied that it was for his use and stated he was holding it for someone else.”

Says the motion: “In view thereof, we respectfully petition the court for the issuance of a warrant and recommend that the term of supervision be revoked. It is recommended that this petition and order be placed under seal until execution of the warrant. The purpose of sealing this document is to facilitate officer safety and to disallow the defendant's knowledge of issuance of the warrant.”

The warrant was executed and returned Friday, according to documents.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement released at the time of his arrest complaints based on the former federal inmate selling drugs launched an investigation by Agent D.J. Epperson.

The narcotics, civil and patrol divisions of the sheriff’s office executed the search warrant based on Epperson’s investigation.