ROCKY POINT, N.C. (WECT) – The Pender County Sheriffโs Office released details on Thursday, Oct. 12, concerning the arrest of a New Hanover County man following an investigation into the death of 32-year-old Justin Barnes.
โOn September 19, 2022, the Pender County Sheriffโs Office received a report of a death at an address in Rocky Point. Law Enforcement and EMS responded to the address and located 32-year-old Justin Barnes deceased. An autopsy was conducted which showed his death was the result of Fentanyl Toxicity,โ the sheriffโs office release states.
According to the announcement, 30-year-old Grayson Kyle Lancaster was arrested on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
โThe investigation showed Grayson Kyle Lancaster, a 30-year-old resident of New Hanover County, sold the fentanyl-laced narcotics to Mr. Barnes the day of his death,โ the release explains. โMr. Lancaster has been charged with felony Death by Distribution.โ
As of Thursday morning, Lancasterโs bond is set at $1 million.
โAgencies to include New Hanover County Sheriffโs Office, Carolina Beach Police Department along with the Wilmington Police Department assisted in this investigation. During these types of investigations, the sheriffโs office works closely with the District Attorneyโs Office throughout the investigation.โ
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Pender County Sheriffโs Office at (910) 259-1212 and speak with Det. Short or Det. Lane.
Raleigh police said Christen Lee Neubert, 40, has been charged in connection with the drug overdose death of Maureen Walsh, 55.
A woman has been arrested and charged in connection with a fatal overdose from February.
Raleigh police said Christen Lee Neubert has been charged in connection with the drug overdose death of 55-year-old Maureen Walsh.
On Thursday, WRAL News obtained a toxicology report for Walsh that indicated methamphetamines and amphetamines were in her system when she died. Methamphetamines are considered a street drug, which is typically made in a lab illegally, whereas amphetamines are usually prescription medications like adderall and ritalin.
Neubert, 40, has been charged with murder. Neubert has pending charges for possessing methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia with two probation violations.
Toxicology results, obtained by WRAL News, showed Walsh had methamphetamines and amphetamines in her system when she died.
Homicide charges in drug overdose cases are rare in North Carolina and difficult to prosecute, according to attorney Daniel Meier.
“How much of your actions caused the death versus the actions of the person who died and who should be responsible for that?” Meier said.
There would also have to be enough evidence to prove one person was directly tied to someoneโs death.
“If I sell to Bob who sells to Jane who sells to Sue who sells to Dave and Dave dies, how far up the chain can you go as to who did it,” Meier said.
North Carolina’s “death by distribution” law holds drug dealers liable for murder if their drugs cause someone’s death, even if they didn’t intend to kill anyone.
WRAL asked Raleigh Police if Neubert faced a death by distribution charge. Itโs still unclear.
They said: โWe charged her with homicide due to evidence that directly links her to contributing to her death.โ
North Carolina has changed its “death by distribution” law to make it easier to charge drug dealers with murder in overdose cases, even if they didn’t sell the drugs for money. The new law takes effect in December, but it’s not clear if it will lead to more prosecutions.
“District attorneys ultimately have the say,” Meier said.
Neubert has pending charges for meth and drug paraphernalia, as well as two probation violations.
On Thursday, the judge informed Neubert about the charges against her and told her they would appoint a capital defender to represent her. Her next court date is set for Nov. 2 at 9 a.m.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Alex Bradford was about to finish his sophomore year at UNCW when tragedy struck.
At just 19 years old, Alex fell victim to deadly fentanyl poisoning after ingesting fentanyl through drugs he bought from a fellow classmate. He passed away in March of 2022.
โAlex suffered the same pressures as many college students do with mental health, and unknowingly ingested illicit fentanyl because he chose to self-medicate,โ Jeremy Bradford, Alexโs father, said.
Now, after months of suffering and grief, Jeremy and Alexโs Mother, Millisa, started 2 Out Rally, a foundation to honor Alexโs legacy and bring awareness to the harmful impacts of fentanyl. The name was inspired by Alexโs love for baseball.
A quote from the 2 Out Rally website says, โ2 Out Rallyโฆ.even in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, there is still time to RALLY. 1 at bat can change the outcome of the game. 1 moment can change your LIFE. NEVER give up, show love and compassion, it could save a life.โ
Now, the Bradfords have partnered with Barb Walsh, founder of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, to include Alex in a series of digital billboards across New Hanover County. Walsh is also personally affected by fentanyl, as her daughter, Sophia, passed away from fentanyl poisoning in 2021.
Together, the team has included Alexโs image and story as part of the 13 victims displayed on the billboards. Walsh says she hopes these billboards will inspire other family members of fentanyl poisoning victims to come forward and seek support. She believes that together, they can rally to end the fentanyl epidemic so that no other family has to suffer.
โThose billboards are a public messaging system. Theyโre a PSA. I want to replicate what the Bradfordโs have done because weโre not going to win this if we only work by ourselves,โ Walsh said.
But this battle is far from over.
โYouโre literally playing Russian roulette if youโre choosing to utilize drugs that you donโt know could be laced with fentanyl. Alex didnโt know,โ Bradford said. โItโs really to bring a face to the epidemic, because it doesnโt matter your economic background, your status, how you were raised, your religious belief, fentanyl does not discriminate.โ
The locations of the 6 public safety billboards in New Hanover County are:
It has been eight months since Fara Eve Barnes has been without her daughter, Skye.
Skye Barnes died inside her dorm at Sullivan Hall on the campus of NC State University on February 11.
“She gave the most amazing hugs. Her hugs were not just a quick release,” said Barnes’ mother. “I miss the things that never happened that we get to have and are blessings in our lives.”
Barnes’ autopsy listed her cause of death as an atrial fibrillation to ibuprofen toxicity.
The ibuprofen overdose, according to Barnes’ mother, was due to the amount of work her computer science major daughter was taking in the spring semester.
“She had communicated how overwhelmed she was with the class load that all day every day was consumed to do homework for these 19 credits that she was guided into taking,” said Barnes. “There had not been an intention. This is the commonality in these stress casualties. You’re not finding this suicide note. Somebody hadn’t made a plan. They’re not thinking about ending their life.”
Barnes told Eyewitness News she could tell something was off with her daughter due to the course load and text messages they had exchanged.
College senior Riley Sullivan often carries a vial of the drug naloxone in his backpack, in a pocket next to his pens and pencils.
He has done this for years, long before he was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Once, while volunteering at a homeless encampment in his home state of Michigan, he used it to save a manโs life.
โHe was using drugs with somebody else, and they did not have naloxone,โ Sullivan says. โThis guy came out screaming, asking if anyone had some. And I did.โ
Naloxone is the antidote to an opioid overdose. Sullivan took a syringe of injectable naloxone from the backpack he was carrying, walked into the tent and loaded it with a vial of medicine.
โI injected it through his pants, into the front of his thigh,โ Sullivan recalled. Then he performed rescue breathing on the man. โAnd luckily he made it.โ
Today, Sullivan has a $15,000 supply of injectable naloxone in his closet at his off-campus apartment in Chapel Hill. He and two of his classmates have become unexpected distributors of the drug in this college town where several students have recently died from opioids.
The deaths are largely unknown to the campus community, but they were discussed at a recent public meeting of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. The university’s director of student wellness Dean Blackburn led the presentation.
โI want to share a shocking statistic with you, that I hope you find shocking. It is for me. In the last 20 months, we have lost three active students and one young alum to fentanyl poisoning,” Blackburn said. “And I use that term specifically; not โoverdoseโ because our students and alum were not using fentanyl.”
โThey were using other substances that were laced with fentanyl, and they did not know that. And the result of that poisoning was their death and our loss,โ he added.
The following OpEd is from the Oct 9 edition of the Carolina Journal.
While most of North Carolinaโs political observers have been focused on the long-awaited completion of the state budget, there have also been other bills progressing through the legislature โ like SB 189,ย Fentanyl Drug Offenses and Other Related Changes, which increases fines and penalties for distributing the drug and sets up a task force to come up with new law enforcement strategies.
The bill aims to crack down on fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids, a positive step in an environment where over 100,000 people per year are dying of drug overdoses, including over 4,000 North Carolinians. The explosion of these deaths, which used to total around 5,000 people annually nationwide before the new millennium, has made it now the leading cause of death for adults 18-45, higher than other major causes like car accidents or heart disease. Over 70% of overdose deaths are due to fentanyl, an opioid so powerful many immediately overdose and die when they try it for the first time.
State Sens. Tom McInnis, Danny Britt, and Michael Lazzara introduced the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in March. This week, SB 189 also passed the House, albeit with 20 Democrats voting against. Now the bill heads to the governor for his signature or veto, and at least some on the left think he should choose the latter.
Before the House vote was taken, a coalition of โharm reductionโ advocates, including the NC Council of Churches, sent out a press release denouncing the bill.
โAmid Stateโs Worsening Overdose Crisis, Harm Reduction Advocates Argue SB189 Will Fuel Deaths and Systemic Racism,โ the statement begins.
To back the claim that arresting fentanyl dealers will increase overdose deaths, the harm reducers say, โProsecuting dealers disrupts the drug supply, leading to more preventable overdose deaths.โ
This, clearly, ignores the fact that fentanyl dealing is already highly illegal, so supplies are already disrupted when they are arrested. Increasing the fines and penalties on dealers isnโt going to make much difference on that front. But it might act as a deterrent and reduce supply.
The study they cite, from NC State, looked at Haywood County after the original death-by-distribution law was implemented. Either those sending the press release didnโt read it, or they hoped the reader wouldnโt. But the study found the impact of the law was actually a lowering of overdose risk (because dealers lowered potency to avoid the serious charge) in the short term. The study did say there was a possibility of a greater risk in the longer term, but they were unsure, so their biggest takeaway was, โOur study demonstrates most conclusively that further research on the individual and community-level impacts of DIH laws is urgently needed.โ
Harm-reduction proponents are fond of calling all their claims โevidence based,โ but Iโve found their evidence to be paper thin, like this claim that โprosecuting dealers lead[s] to more deathsโ with the study saying mostly the opposite as proof.
After presenting their weak evidence, they go on to demand action based on it: โIt is time for lawmakers to recognize the failings of the Drug War, and come to the realization that we cannot punish our way out of the overdose crisis.โ
Victims’ families say “death by distribution” laws are a step forward, but they want more prosecutions.
With overdose deaths at all-time highs, North Carolina lawmakers moved this year to make easier to prosecute drug dealers who sell a fatal dose.
Victims’ families say “death by distribution” laws are a step forward, but they want more prosecutions.
Debbie Peeden’s granddaughter, Ashley, overdosed in a Greensboro apartment in 2021.
In the years since,ย Peedenย has been relentless: holdingย signs in the rain outside the state capitol, showing up at meetings and reaching out to law enforcement, all to try and raise awareness of the threat of fentanyl, and a tool she says prosecutors often fail to use: North Carolinaโs death by distribution law.
She saw some success last week when Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law a change that makes it easier to link a drug dealer to an overdose death. The law now no longer requires proof that drugs were sold to the victim in the case of a fatal overdose, just that those drugs were supplied by the suspect.
According to the CDC, more than 150 people die everyday to opioids, including fentanyl. Over 13,000 NC families have lost a loved one to the deadly illicit drug.
BURLINGTON, N.C. โ According to the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, 8 people die each day from fentanyl poisoning.
It can be mixed with illegal drugs, made into pills, and even candies.
In the eyes of more than 13,000 North Carolina families, fentanyl is a killer.ย
“We probably already have surpassed 14,000, that’s enough to fill the Charlotte Knights stadium of dead people,” said Barb Walsh, the Executive Director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Walsh lost her daughter, Sophia, to fentanyl poisoning.
She hosts events throughout the state to let other families to know, they are not alone.
“You go into a black hole when your child dies and some people don’t come out. I am there for them. I go to the court dates. I feel lucky enough to get them, hold events like this, so they can meet other people who are going through the same thing,” said Walsh.
Fentanyl isnโt only arriving in the U.S. by your standard-fare drug smuggler, hiding it in suitcases and the back seat of a go-fast boat from Mexico bound for San Diego. Itโs still coming in via U.S. mail and other international shippers. And it comes in duty-free. Barring drug-sniffing dogs at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities catching the wayward package shipped usually from China and Mexico, duty-free entry remains a small but active way of getting the killer drug to addicts nationwide.
โCBP continues to see bad actors seeking to exploit the increasing volumes of de minimis shipments to transit illicit goods, including fentanyl and the precursors and paraphernalia used to manufacture it,โ a spokesperson for CBP told me. De minimis is a Customs trade provision that allows for duty-free entry of all goods if priced under $800. CBP said that in fiscal year 2022 (beginning Oct 1 and ending Sept 30), most package seizures by Customs agents were from de minimis mail, including seizures for narcotics.
Although the CBP did not specify the source of these packages, Mexico and China are the top two, with China long known as the go-to spot for the raw materials and equipment used to make fentanyl in a lab.
Equipment such as pill presses, used by drug cartels for turning powder into consumable pills, were often seized at CBP mail rooms. Some 80% of those seizures came from duty-free entry, Brandon Lord, executive director of the trade policy and programs directorate, said on Sept. 11 at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference.
Read the full article on Forbes.com (subscription may be required).
