Former ECU standout who played in NFL sentenced to prison in $2.7 million drug case
A former standout football player at East Carolina University who went on to play in the NFL is going to prison for his role in a “large scale” drug trafficking scheme, according to federal prosecutors.
Richard Dwight Alston, 39, was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison on charges of conspiring with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a news release. A judge also ordered Alston to pay back $2.7 million in drug proceeds he’s accused of laundering through a business account.
Alston played one season in the NFL as a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns in 2004.
He joined the team as a free agent after playing four years at ECU as a receiver and quarterback, according to a 2003 university news release. Alston was third in Conference USA for receiving yards per game in 2002 and “caught at least one pass in each of his last 23 collegiate games,” the release states.
Alston eventually moved back to North Carolina, where prosecutors said he “engaged in a multi-year and cross-country conspiracy to traffic in large amounts of marijuana and to distribute that high-grade marijuana to associates in Raleigh.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service investigated Alston for “several years” before raiding apartments believed to be “stash locations for Alston’s large-scale marijuana organization” in 2017, according to Wednesday’s news release.
Investigators reportedly found more than 40 pounds of marijuana and $371,670 in cash during the search.
Federal agents intercepted Alston’s next drug delivery a few days later and arrested two people who transported marijuana on Alston’s behalf, prosecutors said.
“A search of their vehicle revealed 7 large duffel bags containing almost 200 kilograms of marijuana, along with $67,814 in United States currency,” the release states. “A financial investigation conducted by the IRS revealed that Alston had laundered drug proceeds of over $2.7 million through a business bank account over a period of several years.”
Alston pleaded guilty to the charges in January, court filings show.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Former ECU standout who played in NFL sentenced to prison in $2.7 million drug case."
