HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) โ Two men have been arrested and charged in two separate death by distribution cases, according to the High Point Police Department.
On Thursday, Tyler Shane Hazelwood, 34, of Rural Hall, was arrested in connection with the January 2024 fatal drug overdose of a 29-year-old man found dead inside a home on Middlewood Court.
Hazelwood was charged with felony death by distribution and possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver schedule II controlled substance. His bond was set at $500,000.
In June, Abdullah Kindle, 38, of High Point, was arrested in connection with a separate death by distribution case regarding the fatal overdose of a 29-year-old man at a home on East Green Drive. Kindle was arrested on July 28.
Kindle remains in the Guilford County Jail with a $2 million bond.
A Wilson man received more than five years in prison after pleading guilty in the countyโs first death by distribution case, following the fentanyl overdose death of a 25-year-old Navy veteran.
A Wilson man was sentenced Monday to an active term in state prison after pleading guilty to the first death by distribution case to be adjudicated in Wilson County.
Tabron Tyrone Farmer, 35, of the 5100 block of Wilson Road, made an Alford plea July 29 to death by distribution in the June 25, 2023, death of 25-year-old Shade Izayah Anthonee Staples. An Alford plea is an arrangement in which the defendant doesnโt admit guilt but acknowledges there is likely enough evidence to ensure a conviction
In Wilson County Criminal Superior Court on Monday, Resident Superior Court Judge L. Lamont Wiggins sentenced Farmer to a minimum of five years and seven months to a maximum of seven years and nine months active in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.
Farmer is the first person to be sentenced in Wilson in a death by distribution case since modifications in the death by distribution law were ratified in September 2023, providing for stiffer sentences for defendants who unlawfully deliver certain controlled substances that proximately cause a personโs death.
Assistant District Attorney Kristen Spainhour told the court that on the date of his death Staples had consumed three beers at Brewmasters at lunchtime, at which time he called Farmer asking to purchase Percocet pills.
Spainhour said Staples walked to a nearby store to meet Farmer. Staples purchased two blue pills from Farmer. Spainhour said the transaction was captured on video, adding he thought he was purchasing Percocet.
Spainhour told the court that the defendant called the victim shortly thereafter saying that he thought he had given him the wrong package, that he โthought he messed up.โ
At 2:22 p.m. on the date of his death, family members noticed that Staplesโ speech was slurred while he was playing a video game with his sister, Spainhour said. Staples โslumped over on the couchโ and was not moving and his eyes had rolled back, Spainhour told the court.
First responders could not revive Staples despite giving him the overdose reversal medication naloxone.
Spainhour said fentanyl was determined to be the cause of death.
Spainhour said the victimโs family was โdevastatedโ by the loss.
Defense attorney Andrew Boyd told the court that his client pleaded guilty as a result of a plea arrangement in which lesser charges were dismissed.
Boyd told the court that Farmer has 12 children, is married and that his wife was in court for the sentencing.
โThere is nothing we could say that would bring Shade Staples back,โ Boyd said.
Farmer was ordered to pay $2,975 in counsel fees to attorney Boyd.
Wiggins revoked Farmerโs bond and ordered him taken into custody.
STAPLES A NAVY VETERAN
After the sentencing, Staplesโ mother, Taira Gandarilla, formerly of Wilson and now residing in Knightdale, told the Times that her son was a Navy veteran.
โIt is kind of bittersweet,โ Gandarilla said. โRegardless of the outcome, itโs not going to bring Shade back, but it is very rewarding as a mother to know that even though my son sacrificed his life, we can definitely prevent somebody else from losing their life as a result of this young manโs carelessness.โ
Gandarilla said it was comforting to her that other parents of Fentanyl overdose victims were in the courtroom at the time of the sentencing.
Ten families of Wilson County fentanyl overdose victims were present in the court for Mondayโs hearing.
Gandarilla said that until Monday, she did not know this group existed.
โYou guys didnโt know me from Sunday, and to know that I already have a family is incredibly comforting,โ Gandarilla said. โYou can go through therapy all day long, but the best therapy is to go through it with people who have walked in your shoes. We have than commonality that is going to forever bond us.โ
Gandarilla said her son was โfirst and foremost a brother.โ
โShade absolutely coveted the relationship that he had with his sisters. He was the oldest of four siblings. He had three younger sisters, and those were his girls. He was incredibly family oriented. He was an old soul. For a 25-year-old man, he literally saw the world differently than anybody else I had ever met. He just saw things from a different lens. He was always asking questions. He wanted to learn as much as possible every single day.โ
Two other death by distribution cases are pending in Wilson County.
Wilson County has had 151 fentanyl fatalities since 2013, according to Barb Walsh of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. She was with parents of overdose victims who were at the courthouse.
Mike Loomis, founder of Race Against Drugs, is having one of the best weeks of his life four years after the worst day of his life.ย ย
Loomis and his wife lost their son, James, to fentanylย poisoningย inย Aprilย 2021.ย Since that day,ย they haveย been channelingย theirย pain,ย angerย and frustrationย into educating people on the dangers of opioidย addiction, supporting those in need ofย recoveryย and advocating forย publicย access of naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan.ย
Loomis has been an ever-present fixture at the Davidson County Opioid Settlement Funds committee, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, the Davidson County Board of Educationย meetingsย and other events. He has been vocal about the need for access to Narcan in the community, including in the schools.ย ย
He says it has been an uphill battle, but this week he feels he has made some significant progress with county leadership.
โItโs about time the county commissioners, the schools and the community have come together to provide this life-saving cog in saving lives,โ said Loomis.
On Monday, the Davidson County Schools Board of Education approved a new policy for the use of naloxone in emergency situations to prevent opioid overdose death. The proposed policy states each school in the district should have an adequate supply stored in a secure, yet accessible location. The policy includes training one or more employee at each school as part of the medical care program in the emergency use of Narcan.
โI would like to thank the superintendent and the school board for considering this policy,โ said Loomis. โThis is only one cog in saving a life in Davidson County. Right now, we are at around 480 people in Davidson County who have died because of fentanyl. The highest growing number of deaths are from 14- to 17-year-olds; these are your students, these are your children.โ
This policy will be under review for the next 30 days before final approval by the Davidson County Schools Board of Education.
Narcan has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration as safe to use for the life-saving application during a suspected opioid overdose and can be administered to anyone regardless of their age.
On Thursday, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners continued their discussion on using opioid settlement funds for supporting school programs and whether to hire a full-time coordinator to oversee the use of the opioid settlement funds.
The commissioners heard from Davidson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Gregg Slate about the pending Narcan policy, as well as other potential early prevention programs through the schools.
Slate said the schools are working on developing a sustainable and vetted medical source to supply Narcan, as well as, estimating costs of training. He said the district has also considered parent and caregiver education, opioid awareness and prevention programming for students, as well as professional development for staff.
โWe looked a variety of different things, from the front end and the back end,โ said Slate. “Weโve already started the conversation…We are trying to be on the forefront of this as far as school districts go because I think it is important.โ
The commissioners voiced strong support of the new Narcan policy and asked Slate to bring back a proposal on using opioid settlement funds to purchase supplies and training staff on its use.
Due to a scheduling conflict, the superintendents from Lexington City Schools and Thomasville City Schools, could not participate in the discussion on Thursday, but are scheduled to appear at a county commissioner meeting in September.
Davidson County Manager Casey Smith said there were not a whole lot of options in the state for consultants specifically for management of opioid settlement funds, but there was a group in Asheville, the Mount Area Health Education Center, that did offer training and development of impact strategies.
The commissioners decided they would like to hear more information from the MAHEC in a future meeting before making any further decision on deciding on whether to hire a full-time coordinator or use of consultation services.
Loomis says he supports the hiring of a coordinator rather than a consultant.
โThey have enough money in the (opioid settlement fund) to hire a legitimate manager. Commissioners may come and go, but a full-time coordinator will know everyone involved and what is needed for this community,โ said Loomis.
To cap off this week of encouraging progress in the fight against opioid addiction, Race Against Drugs will be holding a special event on Saturday.
A Day of Recovery will be on Aug. 9 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Breeden Insurance Amphitheater in Lexington.
The annual event includes representation from local law enforcement, the Davidson County District Attorneyโs Office, Daymark Recovery Services, Davidson County Medical Ministries, Davidson County Emergency Services,the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health, Goodwill Industries, several local churches and other non-profit organizations.
It will also include live entertainment, food trucks, play area for kids, games and door-prizes.
Loomis said he is thankful for all the support of those involved in the Day of Recovery, the county commissioners and the Davidson County Schools. He said he is encouraged with the progress made towards opioid awareness and prevention, but he has no plans to stop advocating for those touched by fentanyl addiction.
โI donโt want to be a pain in the ass to people, but I will to save a life,โ said Loomis.
RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) โ Two women have been indicted after a child died by overdose, according to authorities.
The Randolph County Sheriffโs Office says they were called to a home in Asheboro in May about a juvenile overdose. EMS and fire personnel were already on scene performing life-saving measures when deputies arrived to assist, and the victim was taken to a hospital. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators found drug paraphernalia at the home and sought charges against the victimโs mother, Carrie Jo Graves, 36, and Amy Lee Locklear, 42.
The two women were both indicted by a grand jury in July. Graves was indicted for second-degree murder without regard, and Locklear was indicted for felony involuntary manslaughter.
On July 31, deputies traveled to Robeson and Cumberland Counties to take the two into custody.
Both Graves and Locklear were already wanted for failing to appear in Cumberland County, and Locklear had an additional arrest order for failing to appear in Robeson County.
Graves was taken into custody in Parkton without incident and transported back to Randolph County. She was given no bond.
Locklear was taken into custody in Saint Pauls and brought back to Randolph County. She was given a $362,000 secured bond for the various charges.
A man from Henderson was sentenced to 16 years in prison for selling fentanyl to a person who later died of an overdose in Cary. imaginima Getty Images
A North Carolina man whose distribution of fentanyl contributed to a fatal overdose in a Cary hotel has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Keymon Leahke Cofield, 25, of Vance County pleaded guilty in April to distributing fentanyl and heroin, along with possession with intent to distribute. The investigation that led to his arrest began on June 13, 2020, when Cary police responding to a suspected overdose at a local hotel found a 35-year-old man dead with 50 bindles of suspected fentanyl and heroin, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina said.
Officials traced the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, to Cofield, who was 20 at the time. They determined he had traveled south from the small city of Henderson to Cary to sell drugs. An undercover investigation that summer culminated in Cofieldโs arrest. Authorities seized 651 bindles of suspected fentanyl and heroin, and a search of Cofieldโs phone showed photos of firearms and large amounts of cash.
The Department of Justice listed Cofieldโs nicknames as โKeymoneyโ and โBoi Fat.โ
Cary and North Carolina overall have seen increases in opioid incidents this century. Statewide, opioid overdose fatalities rose 800% between 1999 and 2016 โ from around 100 deaths to 1,300. Cary reported 11 on-the-scene opioid overdose deaths in 2017 and the same number in 2020, the year of Cofieldโs arrest. In 2018, Cary launched an Opioid Wastewater Project pilot program that sought to measure opioid consumption not by overdoses but by the concentration of opioids in sewage samples. Ten locations around the town of 170,000 were selected.
Town officials sought a new gauge for opioid use after observing deliveries of Narcan โ a medication that can reverse the impacts of opioid overdoses โ exceeded actual reports of overdoses.
In 2022, Cary reported 118 opioid-related incidents, a higher total than in any of the previous five years. That year, Cary received $928,360 from the North Carolina Department of Justice as part of national settlement agreements with opioid companies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that states and tribes proposing importation programs can use โa static baseline approach for the cost-savings analysisโ instead of trying to account for changes in unpredictable markets.
Law enforcement officials from across eastern North Carolina gathered in Morehead City to enhance their understanding of death by distribution cases. Carteret County officials emphasized the importance of this training.
Officers, detectives, and deputies from Carteret and Craven counties convened at the Morehead City Police Department to stay informed on trends and strategies for handling these cases. Sheriff Asa Buck highlighted the local efforts to strengthen their approach since the introduction of the new law in 2019.
“For the past couple of years one of my detectives, Corey Bishop, and Assistant District Attorney David Spence have been putting on this training session โ not just here in our county, but across the state in various trainings, homicide investigator events, and other conferences as well,” said Sheriff Buck.
Since 2020, the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office has charged 30 individuals under the death by distribution law, leading the state in such prosecutions. Sheriff Buck and Assistant District Attorney David Spence were present to lead the training and discuss the significance of these cases.
MONROE, N.C. (WBTV) – A man was arrested after a 39-year-old died from an overdose in Union County in March, according to police.
Records showed 52-year-old Fredrick Bivens was charged with death by distribution on Saturday, June 28, and given a $1 million bond.
What happened
On March 4, police said they responded to calls for an unresponsive person at a home along Broome Street in Monroe.
Upon arrival, officers said they found Jerry Deese suffering from a medical emergency, and โdespite rapid intervention and lifesaving efforts,โ he was pronounced dead.
His death was later determined to be the result of a drug overdose, according to police.
Investigation leads to Bivensโ arrest
After an โextensive investigation,โ officers said they identified Bivens as being responsible for supplying the drugs that led to Deeseโs death.
Authorities advised that shortly after identifying Bivens as a suspect, he was apprehended and placed in the Union County Detention Center.
โLet this case serve as a clear message: if you distribute deadly drugs in our community, you will be held accountable,โ said Chief Rhett Bolen. โMy department remains fully committed to aggressively pursuing those who profit from narcotics and ensuring they face the consequences of their actions.โ
