Month: July 2026
Raleigh man gave his friend a fentanyl-laced pill. Now, he’ll serve prison time
Read the original article on the Raleigh News & Observer website.
What started as a night of partying in 2023 ended with a prison sentence Tuesday for the man accused of selling the pills that killed his friend in a Carrboro home.
Jerimiah Hargrove, 22, of Raleigh, was scheduled to have his death by distribution case heard by an Orange County jury this week, but he chose Tuesday to accept an Alford plea instead.
That means Hargrove did not legally admit responsibility for the June 27, 2023, death of 21-year-old Serguei “Dolys” Ndinga Momo, but that he thought a jury would have found him guilty.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie Reese sentenced Hargrove to four to six years in prison, and also ordered him to get psychological and substance abuse treatment. He will also get educational and vocational training and be eligible for work release.
A second charge of selling a Schedule II controlled substance was dismissed Monday, court records show.
Reese warned Hargrove to take advantage of the programs available to him and to avoid alcohol and other substances in the future. Defense attorney Patrick Morgan told the court that Hargrove attended Johnston County Community College and worked several jobs before successfully completing most of a 12-month vocational training program in 2024.
Hargrove was kicked out of the Hope Center program after a relapse, but could return in the future, he said.
What led to Ndinga Momo’s death
Hargrove, Ndinga Momo, Hargrove’s girlfriend and another man were drinking together at the victim’s house in Carrboro after midnight on June 27 when Hargrove got out some “Perc 30s” — a pressed pill that included the prescription painkiller Percocet and fentanyl, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr said.
Continue reading “Raleigh man gave his friend a fentanyl-laced pill. Now, he’ll serve prison time”Drug dealer sentenced in Johnston County teen’s overdose death
Read the original article on the Raleigh News & Observer website.
A Selma man will spend at least eight years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to selling a teenager the drugs that killed her.
Isaiah Lathomas DaPaul Watson, 27, was charged with death by distribution in the August 2025 death of Alesha Meshaw, 19, of Four Oaks, The News & Observer previously reported.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Lock sentenced Watson to a minimum of eight years and maximum of 10 years and eight months in prison, the Johnston County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Meshaw was found dead at a friend’s home after overdosing on counterfeit oxycodone pills, The N&O reported in October. The state crime lab found the pills actually contained fentanyl; carfentanil, a synthetic opioid “much more potent than fentanyl”; and ANPP, “a direct precursor to fentanyl and acetylfentanyl,” according to search warrants in the case.
Meshaw’s autopsy found she died from a fentanyl and carfentanil overdose. Her death was ruled an accident.
Meshaw’s boyfriend told police she’d struggled with substance use, and investigators found texts on her phone indicating she’d met with Watson the day before her death to buy $50 of “blues,” according to search warrants.
Watson was arrested in Roanoke, Virginia, last September after hiding out at his girlfriend’s house, search warrants show. He’d previously served time in prison in a 2020 home invasion in Johnston County and also had pending charges there at the time of Meshaw’s death, court records indicate.
Johnston County District Attorney Jason Waller said in the release he was grateful for law enforcement’s work to seek justice for Meshaw.
“Death by distribution cases present unique challenges for prosecution,” Waller said in the email. “The most important witness to the drug transaction is no longer with us, and other witnesses involved in this type of crime are often reluctant to cooperate.”
Meshaw, also known as “Meme” by loved ones, was described by family members in a GoFundMe as a “bright soul [who] never let anything get her down.”
“Our heart goes out to Aleisha’s [sic] family, and I hope this outcome will help them find solace,” said Assistant District Attorney Keith Gordon, who prosecuted the case, in the release. “Aleisha [sic] was a very young woman, loved by many, whose life was lost to a senseless act of greed.”
North Carolina man convicted in fentanyl overdose death of 29-year-old woman
PASQUOTANK, N.C. (WAVY) — A judge has sentenced a man who pleaded guilty to causing the overdose death of a 29-year-old woman.
Dontae Williams was originally charged with death by distribution. Williams appeared before the Pasquotank County Superior Court and pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter. Superior Court Judge Eula Reid Sentenced Williams to an active term of imprisonment of 77 to 105 months in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
On July 2, 2024, deputies and EMS responded to the 700 block of Egan Lane in Elizabeth City, where they found and attempted life-saving measures on 29-year-old Jessica Modlin. Modlin was later pronounced dead on the scene. Officials determined fentanyl was the cause of death.
Dontae Williams was arrested and charged on January 20, 2025.
NEBO WOMAN CHARGED AFTER CHILD IN CARE TESTS POSITIVE FOR DRUGS
Triangle area man charged with death by distribution in woman’s overdose
Read the original article on the Raleigh News & Observer website.
A Johnston County man has been charged with death by distribution in a woman’s fatal overdose this summer.
Isaiah Lathomas Dapaul Watson, 26, is accused of selling $50 of pills containing fentanyl to Alesha Nicole Meshaw, 19, who was found dead in the early morning hours of Aug. 17 at a friend’s residence in Four Oaks, according to search warrants in the case.
A warrant for his arrest was issued Sept. 12, and Watson was taken into custody at his girlfriend’s home in Roanoke, Virginia, two days later, court documents state.
Watson, of Selma, is also charged with selling a Schedule II controlled substance, delivering a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of a Schedule II substance with intent to manufacture, sell or distribute, court records show.
Hours before Meshaw’s death, she reportedly complained of intense leg pain to the friend she was staying with, warrants state. The friend called her boyfriend to help move Meshaw off the bathroom floor, the warrants state. The News & Observer is not naming any of the other involved parties because they have not been charged with a crime in Meshaw’s death.
After moving Meshaw to a bedroom, the friend told police that Meshaw appeared to be sleeping, but when she checked on her later, Meshaw was “unresponsive,” according to the warrants. When the woman touched Meshaw’s hand, it felt cold, prompting her to call police about 2:15 a.m.
Meshaw’s boyfriend gave police her cellphone, which he said he’d retrieved from the home shortly before law enforcement arrived, the warrants state. It’s not clear why he took Meshaw’s phone from the scene. Police also found a container of eight blue pills at the scene; Meshaw’s friend reported finding the drugs in Meshaw’s purse, according to the warrants.
“[The friend] suspected Meshaw was high because in the past she knew Meshaw used Percocet without a prescription,” the warrants state. “Instead of Percocet, she located these blue pills and placed them into a container to show her mom and dispose of them later.”
Meshaw’s boyfriend told police she struggled with substance use. Text messages on her phone showed texts between Meshaw and Watson arranging to purchase “blues” about 3:15 p.m. the day before her death, search warrants allege.
An analysis from the state crime laboratory found the pills contained carfentanil, a synthetic opioid “much more potent than fentanyl”; fentanyl; and ANPP, “a direct precursor to fentanyl and acetylfentanyl,” search warrants say. A detective described the combination as commonly leading to overdoses.
The pills Meshaw allegedly purchased were meant to imitate oxycodone, a commonly prescribed type of pain pill, according to search warrants. Counterfeit pills like the ones found at the scene actually contain fentanyl, which is much more potent.
A postmortem urine test showed Meshaw tested positive for fentanyl and marijuana, search warrants state.
A grand jury indicted Watson on Sept. 22 on the charges tied to Meshaw’s death, court records show. He remained in the Johnston County jail as of Friday morning with bail set at $5 million secured.
A GoFundMe for Meshaw’s family had raised $1,047 of its $3,000 goal as of Friday morning. The fundraiser described Meshaw, also known as “Meme,” as a “bright soul [who] never let anything get her down.”
Suspect faced unrelated charges
At the time of Watson’s arrest, he already was facing multiple pending charges in unrelated cases, including a Dec. 2 charge of possession of a firearm by a felon and Oct. 15, 2024, charges of fleeing/eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, resisting a public officer, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance, court records show.
He was out on $50,000 secured bond at the time of Meshaw’s death.
Watson was previously convicted of first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping in October 2020 in Johnston County. He was released from prison Sept. 14, 2023, state records show.
Death by distribtion trial begins for man accused of selling fentanyl before Carrboro man’s overdose
Read the original article and watch the video on the WRAL News website.
Jeremiah Hargrove is one of seven people to ever be charged with death by distribution in Orange County.
Three years after a Carboro man died from an overdose, the man accused of selling him the drugs is going to trial.
The charge, death by distribution, is relatively new to the North Carolina court system.
The law has been in effect since 2019, making it relatively new when it comes to a legal sense, and it’s being used all across the state.
Law professionals said it can get very complicated when trying to prosecute someone for selling a deadly dose. Since 2019, when the charge of death by distribution became law, Jeremiah Hargrove is one of seven people to ever be charged with it in Orange County. The charges came after 21-year-old Delise Ndinga Momo died of an overdose.
“If it saves one life, it’s worth it,” said retired judge Carl Fox.
Fox said it has its difficulties in getting through the court.
“You have a little bit of difficulty because the main person you need is deceased,” Fox said.
Fox says to get a conviction there needs to be hard evidence of the sale.
“They are, by their very nature, difficult cases,” Fox said.
Hargrove’s trial is just beginning. The prosecutors will lay out their evidence over the course of the trial’s early days. Court records said he sold indigamomo fentanyl in 2023, less than a week after his 21st birthday.
Family members remembering him as a handsome, talented, strong and generous person according to the GoFundMe they created back then. He’s one of the more than 23,000 North Carolinians to die from an opioid overdose since the death by distribution law was created. In that same time frame, according to the Fentanyl Victims Network, nearly 400 people have been charged in relation to selling the drugs that caused those deaths.
You have to say that it’s accomplishing something, and there should be risks involved for people out there dealing dangerous addictive drugs, because that’s the kind of thing that can kill people,” Fox said.
If Hargrove is found guilty, he faces up to five to six years in prison. That trial is expected to continue throughout the week.