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Category: North Carolina News
Burgaw man sentenced for possessing counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl
Read the original article on the WECT6 News website.
BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) – A Burgaw man was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison for possessing counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl to distribute them in Wilmington.
Timothy Mark Blackmon, 29, pled guilty on August 15, 2023, to the charges involving pills that were made to look like Percocet, Hydrocodone and Oxycodone.
“Counterfeit pills laced with deadly fentanyl are made in makeshift labs with no quality control. They are driving American addiction and overdoses at a staggering rate,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “Never take a pill that wasn’t prescribed by your doctor. It could be your last. This defendant hid fentanyl pills in a bag of M&Ms and stashed thousands of pills in air vents in his home. The DEA and Pender County Sheriff’s Office did incredible work getting these pills off the street and may have saved lives.”
Per court documents, officers in November of 2021 received information that Blackmon was distributing the pills and learned he would travel to California to purchase the pills, then ship them through the U.S. Postal Service back to Eastern North Carolina.
Officers located him on Nov. 18, 2021, at the San Diego Airport about to board a plane back to North Carolina. He had 5,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills, more than $7000 in cash, and a USPS receipt for a package that had been shipped on November 16, 2021. The pills were concealed in a package that contained toys and candy, including some pills hidden in a bag of candy.
“On November 19, 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Pender County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Blackmon’s residence during which law enforcement seized more than 11,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills concealed in air vents in Blackmon’s bedroom, over $87,000 in cash, and a small amount of cocaine. Flight records for Blackmon obtained by law enforcement also confirmed repeated trips to California and Arizona from March of 2021 through November of 2021. Information presented to the Court established that Blackmon would travel to California approximately once a month to purchase approximately 5,000-10,000 fentanyl pills from his source of supply and have them shipped back to North Carolina for further distribution. A DEA analysis of the pills found in the search confirmed the presence of fentanyl,” court documents stated.
Fentanyl deaths rising among NC children
Read the original article on the WUNC website. This article originally appeared on the NC Health News website.
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.
Continue reading “Fentanyl deaths rising among NC children”“Large-scale” fentanyl dealer arrested after two-month undercover drug investigation in Selma, Johnston County deputies say
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.
Man charged with death by distribution after woman dies from drugs he sold to her, deputies say
Read the original article on the WFMY News 2 website.
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — Six months after a woman died by an overdose, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office said it has arrested the person who supplied her the drugs.
The investigation began on January 28, when deputies said they responded to the death of an adult female in the Wallburg community. Then in July, detectives received toxicology results from the state medical examiner’s office that confirmed the death was due to fentanyl.
As a result, detectives arrested 47-year-old Wayne Phillips on July 26. He was charged with one count of death by distribution.
Phillips was ordered to be held at the Davidson County Detention Center.
A new law bans ‘gas station heroin’ in NC. Why is it still on shelves?
Read the original article and watch the video on WRAL.com.
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.
Continue reading “A new law bans ‘gas station heroin’ in NC. Why is it still on shelves?”NC schools should have naloxone, train staff on signs of drug abuse, student group says
Read the original article on the WRAL News5 website.
The State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council drafted model legislation to address a problem they’re seeing among classmates.
Some North Carolina students want to do something about rising drug use and mental health issues among young people.
On Thursday, a student group told the State Board of Education that schools should have wellness teams to help intervene when they see problems.
Sarah Beitar, a member of the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, said she knows someone at her Harnett County high school who overdosed.
“We have freshmen, so children as young as 14 and 15, having to deal with these topics of overdose and making sure that they’re being safe,” she said.
Continue reading “NC schools should have naloxone, train staff on signs of drug abuse, student group says”Fentanyl victims group pushing for Naloxone in all school
Read the original article and watch the video on the Queen City News website.
STATESVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — “I’m doing this because my 24-year-old daughter, Sophia, was killed by fentanyl on August 16th. And I didn’t even know how to spell fentanyl,” said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
She’s been a voice for families suffering the loss of a loved one by fentanyl poisoning.
“It’s just a network of damaged families who are getting together and finding their power and their passion to heal one another, but also to stop that not from killing someone else,” Walsh said.
The network includes counties like Mecklenburg, Rowan, Iredell, and Catawba. Pictures of those who lost their lives to the poisoning lined the walls at the Bristol Road community center.
Many of their families are doing their best to keep their memories alive.
“Fentanyl took my husband on November 2023, And it has changed our whole daily routine. He was in my house every single day walking around and now he’s not,” said Stephanie Triplett. She started “Embers for Ashes” in response to the death of her husband.
“In 2022, my son T.J. passed away of fentanyl poisoning. He had 18 nanograms of fentanyl in his body, which is enough to kill nine people. He had taken what he thought was oxycodone, but it was a pill that had fentanyl. And he’s been gone since 2022,” said Stephanie Duck. She started “TJ’s Story Lives On”
Through tears, families discussed their losses — but also laid out an action plan to save other victims from death – putting naloxone in every school.
“We just don’t know where a young person might encounter fentanyl. And so the safest thing is to have an antidote within the school, just like an ied, just like an EpiPen, just like a fire extinguisher. It’s not expensive. So we’re advocating for doses per school, not just with school resource officers, but as an emergency first aid kit,” Walsh said.
Fight fentanyl poisoning and learn at a local Race Against Drugs event
It has been reported that ten people in North Carolina die each day as a result of fentanyl poisoning and over 375 people in Davidson County have also died as a result since 2015. Recently Davidson County has been inundated with more deaths associated with fentanyl. It is saddening to hear the number of individuals that have lost their lives from fentanyl poisoning and the statistics are as shocking when the age range of those killed by fentanyl is exposed. Locally, there have been countless arrests made by law enforcement of persons selling the deadly drug within our own community. There have also been arrests made of parents and caretakers of children that are being poisoned after ingesting the drug, unaware. This dangerous drug effects everyone and has the potential of killing someone that each of us know and loves, if it hasn’t already. It is time to end the excuses that too many live by, that it is not our problem, because it now is.
The General Assembly recognizes that deaths due to opioids are devastating families and communities across North Carolina. The General Assembly finds that the opioid crisis is overwhelming medical providers engaged in the lawful distribution of controlled substances and is straining prevention and treatment efforts. As a result of these related deaths, the General Assembly enacts this law to encourage effective intervention by the criminal justice system to hold illegal drug dealers accountable for criminal conduct that results in death.
The older version of the law stated that a person is guilty of death by distribution if all of the following requirements are met:
- The person unlawfully sold at least one controlled substance such as an opioid cocaine or methamphetamine
- The substance sold cause the death of the user
- The person who sold the drug did not act with malice
The crime was a Class C felony, which usually results in a 5-12 year prison sentence with a maximum sentence of 19 years.
The updated version of the law removes the malice requirement or proof that the drug was sold. Under the new law, perpetrators can be charged with a Class C felony if they simply distribute a drug such as methamphetamine, fentanyl or cocaine that leads to a victim’s death. If the perpetrator did act with malice, the distributor could be charged with a Class B2 felony.
On August 10th from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Breeden Amphitheater in Lexington, A Raced Against Drugs (RAD) is hoping to educate the community and to counteract fentanyl use and distribution with their event entitled A Day of Recovery. In addition, the event organizers and directors of the non profit organization, Michael and Lorrie Loomis will increase awareness of the life-saving drug naloxone, which is a synthetic drug, similar to morphine, that blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system. Naloxone is used in the case of overdose.
RAD is a passion project for the Loomis’ after their son, James Allen Loomis passed away from fentanyl poisoning on April, 22, 2021, making him “Forever 27.”
The RAD event is for everyone and will feature numerous experts offering kind advice for all that attend and live entertainment. There will also be food trucks, a 50/50 raffle and much more. For information please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1374857129674223. To contribute to the organization to reach the directors email raceagainstdrugs2024@gmail.com.
It is time to eliminate the threat of fentanyl in our community and across NC.
Read the original article on DavidsonLocal.com.
Woman convicted in Death by Distribution Case in Carteret County
BEAUFORT, N.C. (WNCT) — A 42-year-old woman pled guilty to death by distribution of controlled substances in the death of 30-year-old Pawnee Schmitz.
Carteret County Sheriff’s deputies found Schmitz’s phone at the scene and found conversations regarding drug purchases with multiple individuals the night before Schmitz’s death.
Search warrants for Schmitz’s phone records resulted in the arrest of three people including Melissa Mastropierro. Mastropierro, 42, of Atlantic, was sentenced to just more than five years to eight years in prison.
According to District Attorney Scott Thomas, on May 29, 2023, Carteret County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to Community Road in Davis. Schmitz’s father made the call to law enforcement, reporting that he found Schmitz lying prone and unconscious on the bathroom floor. EMS arrived to find Schmitz deceased.
Drug paraphernalia and two small bags of methamphetamine and fentanyl were discovered close to Schmitz’s body, according to the sheriff’s office. An autopsy confirmed that the cause of death was from methamphetamine and fentanyl toxicity.
Read the article on the WNCT News9 website.