One man indicted federally in a cocaine distribution case has entered a not guilty plea while another has struck a plea agreement with the government.

A third will not have his arraignment until June, according to court records.

Shermarquette Whitaker entered a not guilty plea to charges levied against him last August alleging he is linked to the distribution of 5 kilos of cocaine, that he was a felon in possession of a firearm and that in September of 2019 he and co-defendant Mark David Dean aided and abetted one another to possess and distribute 500 kilos or more of cocaine.

Dean is the defendant who has taken a plea for the distribution of 5 kilos and the aiding and abetting Whitaker to distribute 500 kilos or more of cocaine.

Dean is scheduled for sentencing in Raleigh next week. A trial date for Whitaker has not been set.

The charges reflecting the distribution of 500 kilos or more of cocaine stem from a 2019 traffic stop in Wilson County in which more than 10 pounds were seized in a joint operation with the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office. Both Dean and Whitaker were charged with trafficking cocaine in that case.

A third person indicted, and the only one who was allowed pretrial release in the case, is Jacobi Harvey, whose arraignment will not be held until June in Raleigh.