Ex-Division 1 college football player, violent NC drug dealer, headed to prison

A federal judge sentenced a former Division I college football player from Durham to 15 years in prison for distributing marijuana.

Gurbir Singh Grewal, 23, who is also known as “Gavin,” pleaded guilty in September 2020 to distributing marijuana and aiding and abetting, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

A U.S. Department of Justice news release calls the three-year starter scholarship football player from Fordham University in New York a “violent leader of a drug trafficking organization.”

Grewal distributed marijuana in 2017 and 2018 in New York and in cities in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Durham and Wilmington while he was a student at Fordham University, the release stated.

In May 2018, a confidential source told agents Grewal was selling marijuana for $1,800 to $2,000 per pound. The source bought 46 pounds over at least 10 transactions and Grewal had a firearm each time, the release stated.

The source planned to buy 15 pounds from Grewal. Agents identified him leaving an apartment in Durham on Leigh Road and saw him go to two storage units. The transaction was planned for Raleigh, the release stated.

Agents arrested Grewal after they found him with 15 pounds of marijuana and a firearm.

The agents searched the Durham apartment after obtaining a search warrant. They found an assault rifle with a loaded double-drum magazine, an unloaded shotgun, marijuana, thousands of dollars and a drum magazine that would fit a handgun seized from Grewal’s vehicle, the release stated.

From the storage units, agents seized marijuana and THC vapor liquid cartridges.

Grewal’s cell phone data showed he had trafficked more than 300 pounds of marijuana to North Carolina in early 2018, according to the release.

Guns held to heads, house set on fire

A witness said Grewal frequently threatened people with firearms, the release stated. He would hold them to the heads of people while making threats.

When a customer failed to pay a debt, Grewal ordered members of the drug trafficking organization to burn down the customer’s home, the release stated. Durham police records show the customer’s home had been set on fire.

Grewal was arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in January 2018 on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. The charge has since been dismissed.

He has pending charges from a September 2018 incident in Orange County for assault on a woman and assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

Grewal attended Hillside High School in Durham.

The News Observer called the law firm representing Grewal, Dysart Willis Houchin & Hubbard. His attorneys were not available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Agencies that worked the case included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Raleigh and Durham police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott A. Lemmon prosecuted the case.