WAXHAW, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Charlotte man is charged with death by distribution after a man’s death last March, Waxhaw Police say.
Taylor Demetrius Yates
On March 2, 2026, officers were called to a home on Cassidy Drive after 33-year-old Andrew Rivera fatally overdosed on fentanyl.
A months-long investigation resulted in the arrest of 34-year-old Taylor Demetrius Yates on July 20 in east Charlotte. He is charged with felony death by distribution and trafficking in fentanyl in connection with Rivera’s death.
“This case is a reminder that fentanyl continues to devastate families in many communities, including our own,” said Waxhaw Police Chief Dexter Wilson. “The Waxhaw Police Department remains committed to aggressively investigating drug-related crimes, holding offenders accountable, and working with our partners to keep our community safe.”
Yates is being held without bond at the Union County Jail. He was arrested by Waxhaw Police narcotics detectives and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Crime Reduction Team.
Strother Murray-Ndinga talks about her stepson Serguei “Dolys” Ndinga Momo, who died from a drug overdose, as Jerimiah Hargrove (seated, at left), the man charged with selling him the drugs, listens in an Orange County court.
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.
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.”
A Johnston County man is facing multiple charges in a woman’s fatal overdose at a Four Oaks home this summer.
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.
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.
BEAR CREEK, N.C. (WNCN) — A woman was arrested Tuesday in connection with a deadly overdose in Chatham County earlier this year, the sheriff’s office said.
A bag of evidence containing the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
According to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found 39-year-old Trent Alexander Phillips dead in the driveway of his home in the 8400 block of Siler City-Glendon Road in Bear Creek while responding to a report of an overdose just before 9 a.m. on April 11.
An autopsy determined Phillips died from a drug overdose, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies said they identified 21-year-old Hannah Machelle Davis of Robbins as a suspect in Phillips’ death after investigating cell phone records and other evidence.
According to a warrant filed by the sheriff’s office, Davis is accused of giving Phillips the methamphetamine and fentanyl that led to his death.
The warrant shows Davis is charged with the following felonies:
Involuntary manslaughter
Death by delivery
Delivering fentanyl
Delivering a Schedule II controlled substance
Two counts of felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance
Possession with intent to deliver fentanyl
Possession with intent to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance
Davis made her first appearance in Chatham County court on Wednesday and was given a $1 million secured bond. Her next appearance is scheduled for July 6, according to records.
Winter brought Nicole Holliday’s mother back into her life, but spring took her just as quickly.
A little over a year ago, Holliday was working from her Wake Forest home when her grandmother called with the news.
“Nicole, they found your mom dead,” she said.
“I remember hanging up the phone and just screaming,” Holliday, 31, told The News & Observer. “I was just screaming, like, ‘God, why? Why now?’”
Victoria Benhoff, 52, wouldn’t get the Easter visit from Holliday and her grandchildren she’d been looking forward to. The animal lover whose smile brought warmth to any room, even as she battled an addiction that began as a teenager, was gone. Her sister discovered her dead from a fentanyl overdose in their Wilmington-area home March 27, 2025.
The substance use that marred Benhoff’s life for decades had taken it, just when Holliday believed her mother was finally sober. The grief was staggering, but Holliday’s pain only compounded as the financial realities of her mother’s unexpected death became clear.
“My mom’s funeral, with cremation and everything, was right at $7,000,” Holliday said.
In a typical homicide case in North Carolina, the victim’s loved ones would be eligible for up to $10,000 in funerary and burial reimbursement through the state’s victims compensation fund. But even though someone had been criminally charged with death by distribution in Benhoff’s death, Benhoff wasn’t considered a victim because she’d chosen to take fentanyl the night she died.
Holliday learned of this rule from the New Hanover County District Attorney’s Office, which was prosecuting Benhoff’s alleged dealer, in the months after her mother’s death.
“[Assistant District Attorney] Sean Spiering’s office, they said in fentanyl deaths — well, really just drug deaths in general — they do not generally ask the court to cover payment for that because apparently, in North Carolina, fentanyl death is not considered murder,” Holliday recounted.
The resulting gray area, where Holliday’s mother is both a victim and not a victim, is something Holliday struggles with.
“I don’t understand how someone can sell someone a drug that inevitably killed them, and that’s not murder,” Holliday said.
KINSTON, N.C. (WITN) – A Kinston man is facing charges following a fatal drug overdose investigation.
Around 8:30 a.m. on April 8th, Kinston police say they were called to the 2400 block of Carey Road for a reported fentanyl overdose.
When they arrived, officers found 28-year-old Andrea Grant unresponsive inside the home.
Emergency crews performed life-saving measures on Grant, and she was airlifted to ECU Health, where she was put on life support.
Kinston officers began an investigation into the overdose and identified 31-year-old Michael Oates as the individual responsible for providing Grant with the drugs.
On April 9th, officers pulled Oates over. He was arrested and found with marijuana laced with fentanyl, marijuana and a gun.
Police say Grant was taken off life support on Saturday and died as a result of her injuries.
Detectives got warrants to arrest Oates for death by distribution following her death.
He was additionally charged with trafficking fentanyl, possession of marijuana and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Oates was served the warrants and remains in the Lenoir County Jail without bond.
