More than 50 community members gathered at the Beaufort Train Depot Saturday to discuss the deadly impact of fentanyl in Carteret County. During the forum, Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, and other local officials received the Save Lives Together Award for their ongoing fight against fentanyl trafficking.
Families at the event shared personal stories about losing loved ones to fentanyl, highlighting the community’s urgent fight against the deadly drug.
One of those was Barbara Walsh who lost her Daughter to the deadly drug.
“Itโs important for the families who lost a loved one to know that what their community is doing to keep someone else from dying,” said Walsh.
And In Carteret County alone, fentanyl overdoses have claimed 168 lives from 2013 through 2023.
According to Carteret County Sherriff Asa Buck a trend decreasing over the years.
“These cases are not different someone committed an act they provided a drug to someone caused them to lose their life and we investigate that just like a homicide and we prosecute those offenders just like we would if they would have killed somebody with a knife or a gun, ” said Sheriff Asa Buck
This past Saturday, a community forum addressing the impact of fentanyl in Carteret County was held at the Beaufort Train Depot. During the event, Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, Assistant District Attorney Dave Spence, and Legal Assistant Michelle Gillikin, all of Prosecutorial District 4, were honored with the Save Lives Together Award for their collaborative work in holding fentanyl traffickers accountable. Additionally, Brooke Barnhill, manager of the Countyโs Post Overdose Response Team (PORT), provided a Narcan (naloxone) demonstration and outlined local recovery resources.
Carteret County issued a news release from the event.
by Jaymie Baxley, North Carolina Health News April 14, 2025
By Jaymie Baxley
Naloxone is a widely available medication that can bring someone back from the brink of death in minutes, but cost, stigma and other barriers have kept the opioid overdose antidote out of reach for many of the North Carolinians who need it most.
In Wilson County, a new initiative aims to break down those barriers by giving residents free, 24/7 access to naloxone โ no questions asked.
Repurposed newspaper dispensers filled with naloxone nasal spray were installed last month at five sites in the rural, eastern North Carolina county. These kiosks also contain information about recovery services for substance use disorder and testing strips that can be used to check illicit drugs for deadly substances such as fentanyl.
Jeff Hill, executive director of the coalition, said the goal of the kiosks is to โmake sure that any person who needs a box of naloxone in Wilson County can access it at no charge.โ
โYes, over-the-counter Narcan is available, and yes, I can buy it at Walmart,โ said Hill, referring to the brand name of naloxone. โBut if Iโm a person in early recovery whoโs trying to help somebody, or Iโm a person in active use or a family member of a person in active use with limited income, I might not have $50 to spend on that box of Narcan.โ
Strategic placement
One of the kiosks was installed at BHG Wilson Professional Services, a center that provides medication-assisted treatment to residents recovering from opioid use disorder.ย
Amber Leclercq, program director for the center, said the kiosk was โstrategically placedโ on a side of the building that faces a row of tall bushes.ย
โWith the vending machine being right there, itโs easy to access but also shaded enough to where other vehicles driving down the road don’t see,โ she said. โIf people are not yet ready to seek treatment or if theyโre scared, this gives them the opportunity to discreetly obtain tools and information that might be life-changing. Theyโre taking the first step.โ
The four other Wilson County kiosks are at county-owned facilities, including the local library, Health Department and Department of Social Services, and at Recovery Concepts Community Center, a coalition-run space that hosts meetings for addiction support groups.ย
Each kiosk was initially loaded with 25 boxes of naloxone and 100 testing strips. Hill said interest in the stations had surpassed the coalitionโs expectations, with a couple of them needing to be restocked just days after they were installed on March 24.
โOur machine was one of the ones that got cleaned out pretty quickly,โ said Lori Walston, director of communications for the Wilson County Department of Social Services. โWe have a lot of foot traffic because of our agency and what we do. Also, the neighborhood where we sit is one of the neighborhoods of greater need in the community.โ
Alisa Milliken, the departmentโs grants and wellness coordinator, said the agency also serves a number of residents experiencing homelessness โ a population with an especially high risk of overdose.ย
โWe have a lot of homeless people coming in on a daily basis needing food and things like that, so we expect that the Narcan will keep going pretty quickly, probably every time at our location,โ she said.
Hill said the kiosks will be regularly replenished using funds from Wilson Countyโs share of a landmark court settlement with the pharmaceutical companies that allegedly fueled the national opioid epidemic. The county is set to receive a total of $7.8 million in annual payments through 2038.
Community education
Esteban Arizpe, a community paramedic with Wilson County EMS, said arming citizens with naloxone reduces strain on first responders.ย
โWhen someone calls 911 for an overdose and theyโre actually administering the naloxone prior to EMSโ arrival, it greatly increases the chance of that person surviving while freeing up our units for other calls,โ he said.
The kiosks not only provide easy access to naloxone, they also provide instructions on how to use it. Each station is equipped with a video player that gives a step-by-step tutorial for administering the drug.ย
โOne thing that we strive for is to better ourselves and better our community by providing resources and giving them the education to know the signs and symptoms of an overdose, and how to treat it,โ Arizpe said. โThis is something that is helping us to meet that goal.โ
Arizpe added that heโs seen a โgreat increase in knowledgeโ around naloxone and other tools such as syringe exchanges and testing strips โ collectively known as harm reduction methods โ among residents in recent years.ย
The increased awareness has coincided with a drop in emergency department visits. Admissions of overdose patients to the ER at Wilson Medical Center fell 36 percent from 2022 to 2025, according to DHHS data.
The grant used to buy and stock the kiosks came from the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, a multi-year initiative managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesโ Health Resources and Services Administration.ย
In addition to paying for the five kiosks in Wilson County, the money allowed the coalition to buy four stations to place in nearby Edgecombe, Nash, Warren and Wayne counties. The total cost for the project was $10,000.
Carole Johnson, former administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, speaks during an event announcing a $2.9 million grant for the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition in September 2024.
The kiosk for Wayne County was presented to the local Health Department. Margaret Brake, the departmentโs director, said she will be meeting with community partners this month to determine where it should be placed.
โWe like the idea that people will have 24-hour access to naloxone,โ she said. โParticularly if itโs someone thatโs homeless or strugglingโthey can get what they need when they need it. Weโve even talked about putting some canned goods in there, just to have some additional things the community can use.โ
Mark Winstead, a pastor at Restoration Purpose Church in the small Nash County town of Bailey, is also trying to find a good site for his communityโs kiosk. He described Bailey, which had a population of fewer than 600 people at the 2020 U.S. Census, as a place where โeverybody knows everybody.โ
โThereโs still a stigma there,โ Winstead said. โBut if I can put something somewhere, and maybe itโs a well-known commissionerโs son whoโs battling addiction and he can discreetly come get naloxone, then thatโs what itโs all about.โ
โYou canโt treat somebody thatโs dead,โ he added.ย โWe gotta be able to save their life first โ and then we can work on the rest of it.โ
The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina was featured in an article in the North Carolina Sherrif’a Association April newsletter. Read the newsletter online here.
Read the original article and watch the video on the WCNC website.
Alex Horne, 27, is charged with death by distribution in connection to the death of Rodney Anthony.
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. โ Police have arrested a suspect after a man died from an opioid overdose in April 2024.
Alex Horne, 27, is charged with death by distribution. He is accused of supplying drugs to Rodney Anthony, who died of an opioid overdose.
Anthony died on Fir Avenue on April 20, 2024, according to the Kannapolis Police Department. It took nearly a year after Anthony’s death to identify Horne as the suspect.
Horne was arrested on Tuesday. He is being held with a $750,000 bond in Cabarrus County jail. His next court date is April 9.
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (WITN) – A man has been charged with the overdose death of a woman last summer in Morehead City.
Morehead City police say Bryan Mace was arrested last Thursday on charges of death by distribution, possession with the intent to sell and deliver a Schedule II controlled substance, and delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance.
Police say Kaitlyn Curry died from an overdose last July. An arrest warrant said Mace delivered fentanyl to the 36-year-old woman
Mace was already in jail for related drug charges. His bond was increased by $750,000 due to these additional charges.
BEAUFORT โ The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, a nonprofit based in Wake County, plans to present awards to Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas and his team for top efforts in the state to stop fentanyl traffickers.
A ceremony will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 12 at the Beaufort Train Depot to recognize Buck, Thomas, Assistant District Attorney David Spence and District Attorney Legal Assistant Michelle Gillikin.
Fentanyl victims and their families will also be recognized and the event is open to the public.
In addition, there will be guest speakers, including Brooke Barnhill with the Carteret County Department of Health and Human Services Post Overdose Response Team (PORT).
Fentanyl Victims Network Executive Director Barbara Walsh, whose daughter died after unintentionally ingesting fentanyl, said, โThe Sheriff is receiving an award for having the most in NC of investigations and arrests of fentanyl traffickers who caused a death. This is not because Carteret has the highest rate of fentanyl fatalities in the state. It is because Sheriff Buck cares and allocates resources to find out what caused those deaths. He treats victims and their families with dignity and respect. Some sheriffs have zero arrests.โ
She added that Thomas, Spence and Gillikin are receiving awards for the most prosecutions in NC of fentanyl traffickers who cause death, the Death by Distribution charge.
โAgain, this is not because Carteret has the highest number of traffickers, it is because the DA believes in keeping the community safe,โ she said.
During the ceremony, Walsh said each reward recipient will speak. The event will also feature naloxone training and distribution of free naloxone. Public safety education and prevention materials will be provided.
According to their website, The Fentanyl Victims Network is a nonpartisan, action-oriented statewide grassroots nonprofit that promotes public safety, education, justice, advocacy and support of NC fentanyl victim families in all 100 North Carolina counties. The Beaufort event will be the 28th public safety and education event hosted by the organization in North Carolina.
Other purposes of the group are to spark safety conversations about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly counterfeit pressed pills, and to help provide access to life-saving naloxone in schools and communities. Itโs also to connect NC Fentanyl Victim families for support and advocacy.
According to the organization, 18,594 NC residents were killed by fentanyl from 2013-23, and seven out of 10 street-pressed, copy-cat pills contain lethal fentanyl additives. The organization also provided a chart showing that from 2013-23 there were 168 fentanyl fatalities in Carteret County, with 29 Death by Distribution arrests.
In a joint statement about receiving the awards, Buck and Thomas said, โWe have been working together as a team on all criminal matters since 2006 including the prescription drug issue which fueled the current heroin and fentanyl crisis we have faced in recent years. We have worked together to strictly prosecute drug offenders and we have supported treatment and recovery efforts to help people achieve recovery from their addictions and go on to live productive and healthy lives,โ they stated
โWe commend the tremendous work that has been done in the area of investigating overdose deaths and prosecuting these cases by Sheriffโs Office Detectives, other local police departments and the District Attorneyโs Office prosecutors and legal staff. We are very proud of all of the work that has been done by these dedicated public servants investigating, prosecuting and holding accountable the offenders who have caused the deaths of citizens in our area. We hope our efforts have provided some sense of justice and closure to the families of these overdose victims.โ
In addition, Buck and Thomas stated, โEverything we do should send a message to the public that we are working to address serious issues in our community and to let the criminal offenders know that we will not tolerate this type of activity and we seek to arrest, jail and prosecute them.โ
For more information about the organization, go to Fentvic.org.
Contact Cheryl Burke at 252-726-7081, ext. 255; email Cheryl@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @cherylccnt.
HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (FOX Carolina) – The District Attorneyโs Office for Prosecutorial District 42 reports that a woman was found guilty after a victim died from ingesting Fentanyl in 2023.
Heather Marie Maybin, 38, from Hendersonville, was found guilty of death by distribution.
The court trial record said that Maybin was a drug dealer who conducted her controlled substances activities over Facebook Messenger.
A transaction she arranged in the Walmart parking lot located off Highland Square Drive on Feb. 6, 2023, involved a quantity of fentanyl sold for $40, the court trial record said.
The investigation revealed the victim and a friend ingested the drug that evening through a hypodermic needle. The victim lost consciousness, stopped breathing and was later declared to have died from Fentanyl toxicity
The Henderson County Sheriffโs Office used a search warrant to obtain communications received through Facebook Messenger, court records said.
Maybin was sentenced to a minimum term of 66 months and a maximum term of 92 months in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.
District Attorney Andrew Murray said โMy office, along with our dedicated and professional partners, is committed to ridding our community of fentanyl by holding drug dealers accountable for these untimely and extremely tragic deaths.โ
A Buncombe County jury found Samantha Lynn Higgins, 32, of Asheville, guilty of involuntary manslaughter after her child’s fentanyl-related death.
Data from a state taskforce shows child deaths by accidental poisoning โ mainly caused by fentanyl โ has increased statewide in the past few years and โremained highโ in 2023.
ASHEVILLE – After a day of deliberation over a partially absent defendant, a Buncombe County jury found an Asheville mother guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her childโs fentanyl-related death โ an issue a state taskforce said โremained highโ in 2023.
Samantha Lynn Higgins, 32, of Asheville, was on trial in Buncombe County Superior Court after her 8-month-old daughter ingested or had contact with fentanyl while living in โan environment where the juvenile had access to and contact withโ the drug, police said in an arrest warrant.
Asheville Police Department detectives began investigating on Sept. 8, 2022, when the child was taken to Mission Hospital. Three days later, the infant was pronounced dead.
The childโs autopsy says her cause of death was complications of blunt force injuries to the head, but fentanyl toxicity was “another significant contributing factor.” Blood sample tests during her hospitalization showed a “potentially lethal level of fentanyl,” and evidence of early organ failure was found during the autopsy, according to a copy obtained by the Citizen Times.
The child’s parents found her unresponsive early in the morning, according to the autopsy, which cites the Buncombe County Medical Examiner and APD. They took her to Mission Hospital’s Emergency Department, where resuscitation was successful, the autopsy said.
“It was reported to law enforcement that one of the parents asked hospital staff to use Narcan on the child during resuscitation, so a urine screen was performed,” which tested positive for fentanyl, the report said.
During APDโs investigation, drug paraphernalia was found โlittered throughoutโ the apartment where the child lived, according to a news release from the Buncombe County District Attorneyโs Office. The autopsy said the source of the child’s head injury was “unclear” at the time the report was written. Per department policy on case details, APD spokesperson Rick Rice declined to comment on the circumstances that may have led to the infant’s death.
Welcome to the Sunday edition of our Under the Dome newsletter, which focuses on the governor. Iโm Avi Bajpai, filling in for Dawn Vaughan this week.
Gov. Josh Stein announces his 2025-27 state budget proposal during a press conference Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at the Albemarle Building in Raleigh. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com
The budget proposal Gov. Josh Stein unveiled last month renews his request, now for the third year in a row, for a special unit of state prosecutors and law enforcement agents focused on combating fentanyl trafficking.
Stein first called on the General Assembly to create a fentanyl control unit within the N.C. Department of Justice in February 2023. As head of the department in his role as attorney general at the time, Stein said there was a need for additional prosecutors dedicated to helping local district attorneys go after large-scale trafficking, wiretap, and overdose cases.
His first recommended budget as governor this year includes a funding request for a fentanyl control unit with attorney positions at the DOJ, and law enforcement positions at the State Bureau of Investigation.
Asked about the proposal this week, Stein told reporters that even though initial data appeared to show a downturn in overdose deaths in North Carolina last year, it remains a priority for the state to โdedicate resources to getting this poison out of our communities to the fullest extent possible.โ