A high-capacity pill press sits on a washing machine in a Fayetteville home. (Courtesy USDOJ)
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — What began as a Fayetteville police investigation ended in federal charges, a 27-year prison sentence, and more than six pounds of fentanyl taken out of circulation.
Quavion Maurice Pickett, 30, became the focus of an investigation after a “confidential informant” tipped off Fayetteville police in April 2022 to his role involvement in distributing drugs, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. on Wednesday.
Pickett, a.k.a. “Q,” is a resident of Rock Hill, S.C., and has a residence in Fayetteville where police began surveilling after the tip. After observing what appeared to be multiple drug transactions, a search warrant was issued.
While in the home, officers discovered the laundry room was being used as a “secret fentanyl lab”, the USDOJ release said. The makeshift lab was described as being used as a counterfeit pill-making operation. The fentanyl pills seized were pressed with markings of “A215”, which was to give the appearance of being 30-milligram doses of oxycodone hydrochloride, Easley said.
Wake County will work with 13 community organizations specializing in naloxone distribution, recovery support, housing services and more to combat the effects of the opioid epidemic. Durham County Sheriff’s Dept.
Lindsey Humphreys has been recovering from opioid addiction for the last five years, she said.
She’s known people in Wake County who have died from opioids because they didn’t have access to naloxone, a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.
“I decided to be part of the solution and just started to distribute this,” she said. “I have been doing it for the last couple of years in the memory of some of my friends who passed.”
Humphreys is the executive director of Illuminate NC, an organization that helps distribute naloxone in Wake and Vance counties. Illuminate distributes about 300 naloxone units a month, she said.
Newly-released warrants reveal a Raleigh mother and her unborn baby were among the latest overdose cases as they each died from fentanyl overdoses. The latest data serves as a warning for parents.
Seventeen North Carolinians die from an overdose each day.
Newly released warrants reveal a Raleigh mother and her unborn baby were among the latest cases as they each died from fentanyl overdoses. The latest data serves as a warning for parents.
Barbara Walsh knows the danger of fentanyl, a toxic poison her daughter died from unintentionally in August of 2021.
“Basically, you have a murder with no weapon,” Walsh said. “Fentanyl puts someone to sleep like a dog.”
Sophia drank what she thought was water in a bottle – except it was laced.
“This young woman was 24 years old, Apex High School grad, Appalachian State grad, professionally employed,” said Walsh.
A new search warrant issued by Raleigh police describes a recent suspected fentanyl death of a mother and her unborn child. It happened at an apartment in southeast Raleigh.
Police responded to a woman in cardiac arrest on Aug. 14.
A man inside the apartment told police that she took fentanyl and that he last saw her watching a movie on her phone about an hour earlier before finding her unresponsive.
Wake County EMS administered Narcan, a drug that reverses the symptoms of an opioid overdose.
But the mother and her unborn baby died.
“We are seeing about 3,600 per year die, every year it’s getting larger until this year,” Walsh said.
According to the office of the state medical examiner, there were 193 fentanyl positive deaths in May alone in North Carolina.
Despite that, yearly data is showing a downward trend. There were 3,354 fentanyl deaths in 2022, 3,341 in 2023 and 1,008 so far in 2024.
With this week being International Overdose Awareness Week, she’s hopeful parents can continue to educate their children about the dangers of fentanyl – an odorless, tasteless drug.
“Right now, 7 out of 10 pills not from a pharmacist contain fentanyl,” Walsh said. “Most people don’t know it’s in their pill, a vape or a drink.”
Durham has installed two Narcan vending machines as part of a broader effort to make treatment for drug overdoses more accessible.
Two Narcan vending machines are now available to the public in Durham at:
Durham County Department of Public Health, 414 E. Main St.
Durham County Detention Center, 219 S. Mangum St.
Federal health leaders visited Durham on Wednesday to discuss the importance of making Naloxone, an over-the-counter drug sold under the name Narcan, more readily available. Among the visitors were Dr. Rahul Gupta, who oversees the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Narcan is a lifesaving drug that can help reverse overdoses. During Wednesday’s visit to the detention center, Gupta said free access to the treatment is a game changer.
“Every time this happens, it’s a leading effort for the country as an example for the nation, for the state to do that.,” Gupta said. “Are there enough across the country? No. This why I’m here today … to exemplify the leading efforts right here in Durham County.”
Gupta said overdoses in North Carolina have declined in recent years, citing a 14% decrease in overdoses in the state compared to a 5% national decrease.
The vending machine at the detention center will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while the vending machine at the Department of Public Health will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
People at risk for opioid overdose, including those struggling with opioid use disorder or taking high doses of opioid medications, are recommended to carry Narcan.
Durham County Department of Public Health, 414 E. Main St.
LEXINGTON — On a recent Saturday, family members gathered in a circle at a church here to share stories of loved ones lost to fentanyl.
“Our whole world is turned upside down,” said Michelle, a Forsyth County mother who lost her 19-year-old son to fentanyl poisoning. She didn’t want to use her full name for this story or go into details about his death, as authorities are still investigating.
She doesn’t think her son knew he had taken fentanyl, which has become more common as drug dealers add it to everything from heroin to fake prescription medications.
Just a few grains of the highly potent opioid — about 2 milligrams, an amount that’s barely enough to cover the date on a penny — can be fatal. In 2021, fentanyl was involved in 83 percent of fatal medication or drug overdoses in the state, according to N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
“If this can happen to him, this can happen to anybody,” said Michelle, who has made it her mission to help educate other parents about the dangers of fentanyl.
She’s not alone in her fight.
Barbara Walsh, whose Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina organized the recent Lexington meeting, is pushing for North Carolina to require that the opioid reversal drug naloxone be available in all schools. Her 24-year-old daughter died from fentanyl poisoning in 2021 after unknowingly drinking a bottle of water laced with the drug.
Read the original article and watch the video on the CBS17 website.
SELMA, N.C. (WNCN) — Agents with the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office narcotics division and STAR team put a huge drug case behind them this week.
According to deputies, numerous agents pulled up to 720 Campground Road Wednesday to execute a search warrant at the home. Inside were two adults and one child, including the subject of the investigation, 29-year-old Rashid Campbell. No one else in the residence were criminally charged.
Deputies say approximately 6,000 fentanyl pills were seized during the arrest, with a street value of $125,000. More pills were seized in numerous purchases in their two-month undercover investigation.
Additionally, deputies say they located three firearms, cash, and a money counting machine inside the home.
Campbell, who is a convicted felon, was arrested for numerous firearm and drug charges. They include multiple counts of trafficking in opium or heroin as well as possession of a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver.
Campbell appeared in court Friday for the charges, where his bond was set by the clerk for $2.5 million.
Health officials and lawmakers have warned consumers about the opioid-like effects of tianeptine. But stores are technically still allowed to continue the sale of the drug — for now. Gov. Roy Cooper this month signed into law a bill banning the substance known as “gas station heroin.” But the drug is still sitting on shelves around the region.
That’s because North Carolina’s law doesn’t go into effect until Dec. 1. In the meantime, stores are technically still allowed to continue the sale of tianeptine.
Health officials and lawmakers have warned consumers about the opioid-like effects of tianeptine, which, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been tied to serious health risks and deaths across the country.
In 2020, there were 151 poison control center cases involving tianeptine, according to the FDA. That’s up from just 11 total from 2000 to 2013.
Concern over the drug led to a rare bipartisan effort to ban the product in North Carolina. Lawmakers in June overwhelmingly voted to approve the removal of tianeptine from store shelves. Cooper signed the bill this month, joining at least nine other states — including border states Tennessee and Georgia — that have passed similar bans.
Luis Baez-Roman was arrested and charged with trafficking schedule I, possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintain vehicle for the distribution of controlled substances.
Raleigh police have arrested a man after they say someone died after buying drugs from him at a Raleigh nightclub earlier this month.
Luis Baez-Roman was arrested and charged with trafficking schedule I, possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintain vehicle for the distribution of controlled substances.
A new ad promoting North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s response to the fentanyl crisis will start running during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Stein is the Democratic nominee for governor and running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. In the new television and digital ad airing first on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, a mother talks about her son who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl.
The ad features Debbie Dalton of Cornelius talking about her late son Hunter, who grew up on Lake Norman. Hunter Dalton, 23, graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016, moved to Raleigh and died that same year. His family and friends started The Hunter Dalton #HDLife Foundation in his memory.
Dalton has spoken at news conferences with Stein in his role as attorney general.
In the ad, Dalton praises Stein for his work on the fentanyl crisis as attorney general and talks about Hunter as “an amazing young man and just loved life. He was my entire world. He made a bad decision that night. If our son had known about fentanyl, he would still be with us today. And it shocked us to our core, shocked our community to the core,” she said.
“Attorney General Josh Stein stood up for families like mine, worked with law enforcement, and worked across party lines to attack the fentanyl crisis. I knew from the minute that I met him that this is a man that is compassionate and concerned and committed,” Dalton said.
