david spence Archives - Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina

18 arrested in Carteret “Operation Find Out” drug crackdown

Read the original article on the Carteret County News-Times website.

CARTERET COUNTY — Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck announced the arrest of 18 suspects that are facing 146 felony charges in round one of “Operation Find Out.” According to Buck, the arrests were the result of a months-long operation by the sheriff’s office carried out through undercover purchases, with charges ranging from possession to trafficking.

Buck said the arrests have come with bond amounts as high as $10 million. At least 30 more suspects will be arrested as part of the operation in the coming weeks, he said during a Wednesday press conference.

“The message is clear – sell drugs in Carteret County and you’ll find out,” Buck said. ”You’ll find out that you’ll be arrested, taken to jail, and likely depending on your charges given a high bond to keep you in jail. You’ll be strictly prosecuted and many of you will ultimately find yourselves serving prison time.”

Buck said his team of detectives has done “tremendous work” in taking drug dealers off the streets. He said Carteret County District Attorney Matt Wareham and Assistant District Attorney David Spence have also been critical partners in their efforts.

“The work they have done over the years has made a major impact on our county and our work continues,” Buck said.

Wareham warned that the DA’s office will seek tough sentences for drug-related crimes.

“To those folks who sell drugs, who traffic in drugs, who live off others misery, we will prosecute you. We will seek tough enforcement, we will seek long prison sentences,” Wareham remarked.

Buck noted that Carteret County leads the state in prosecuting death by distribution cases.

“If you want to go to prison for killing someone over something as stupid, foolish and needless as selling dope, then keep on and find out,” Buck commented.

Buck noted that drug overdose deaths in Carteret County have fallen from 36 in 2020 to only five this year.

“We were having a terrible problem with Fentanyl for some time, and it seems like we’re not dealing with as much as we had been in the past,” he said.

For those addicted to drugs, Buck said the county is willing to offer help.

Brooke Lane, who heads up the Carteret County Post Overdose Response Team, echoed Buck’s remarks.

“There is help out there. You don’t have to end up in our county jail, you don’t have to end up part of this operation,” she commented.

Gloucester man sentenced over 8 years for fentanyl distribution in girlfriend’s death

Read the original article on the WCTI News12 website.

After a four-day trial in Carteret County Superior Court, District Attorney Scott Thomas and Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck announced that Hugh Crandall Willis, Jr. of Gloucester, was convicted by a jury for his role in the death of his girlfriend, Bethany JoAlison Styron, 25 of Davis.

Willis was convicted of the following:

Death by Distribution of Fentanyl
Sale and Delivery of Fentanyl
Felonious Possession of Fentanyl

Willis was sentenced to an active sentence of 78-106 months in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, followed by a 6-8 month suspended sentence for 36 months of supervised probation, according to officials.

The following is a release from the State of North Carolina General Court of Justice, Prosecutorial District Four:

During the early evening hours of July 30, 2022, Styron, who was with a friend at the time, pulled into a gas station at the corner of Highway 101 and Steel Tank Road in Carteret County.

After more than an hour sitting at the pump, Styron stopped breathing. Her friend called 911 and EMS pronounced Styron dead. Her cause of death was later confirmed to be from acute Fentanyl toxicity. After a thorough investigation into Styron’s death, Detectives uncovered that late in the day on July 28, 2022, Willis came to the Styron residence and delivered a quantity of Fentanyl to Styron and her friend that was with her during the time when she overdosed. The pair mixed the drugs purchased from Willis into a bag of drugs they had purchased earlier in Kinston. Styron purchased those narcotics on the way home from a weeklong medical inpatient stay at UNCChapel Hill hospital where she was treated for pneumonia, cardiac problems and complications of Hyper IGE Syndrome. Styron used and overdosed on the last amounts of the drugs in that mixture.

In October of 2022, Detectives reached a point in their investigation to charge Willis with the Sale and Distribution of Fentanyl and received an arrest warrant for that charge. When Deputies arrived at Willis’ home to serve him with that warrant and arrest him, Willis was found in possession of more of what was confirmed by the state lab as Fentanyl.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David L. Spence, the lead detective in the case was Joseph (Cory) Bishop of the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office. The State presented 14 witnesses and 37 exhibits of evidence. The Defendant did not present any evidence. Resident Superior Court Judge Augustus Willis presided over the trial.

Fentanyl Victims Network of NC honors families, leaders who fight fentanyl traffickers

Read the original article on the Carolina Coast Online website.

BEAUFORT — It was standing room only as more than 50 people attended the forum about fentanyl Saturday at the Beaufort Train Depot. Those attending have witnessed the devastation fentanyl causes as local victim families introduced their loved ones and shared the many ways fentanyl causes death.

Barbara Walsh, executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of NC, who organized the gathering to honor those who lead the effort to stop fentanyl traffickers, said In many instances. Lethal fentanyl is ingested unknowingly. Fake prescription pills containing undisclosed fentanyl additives made to look like Adderall, Xanax, Percocet and Oxycontin are deadly.

“The victims did not know,” she said.

The pharmacy is the only safe dispenser of prescription medication. Recreational drugs also may contain undisclosed deadly fentanyl additives because it is a cheaper man-made ingredient.

Fentanyl is highly addictive. A person’s body can quickly become dependent on fentanyl. Local recovery and treatment resources are offered by Brooke Barnhill, manager of the Post Overdose Response Team (PORT) within the Carteret County Health Department.

Fentanyl has killed 18,959 North Carolina residents in 10 years, 2013-2023. Of those, 168 occurred in Carteret County.

Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina honored the #1 NC investigation and prosecution team by presenting them with the Save Lives Together award: Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, Prosecutorial District 4 (Carteret, Craven and Pamlico Counties), Assistant District Attorney Dave Spence, Carteret County and Legal Assistant (Paralegal) Michelle Gillikin, all of Carteret County.

Walsh said in the state, there are 37 NC Sheriffs who have no fentanyl investigation arrests leading to prosecution and four NC District Attorneys who have no prosecutions.

The removal of fentanyl traffickers who cause death requires teamwork. The Sheriff treats each death as a homicide investigation until proven otherwise. If the investigation leads to a prosecution, ADA Spence and LA Gillikin apply their extensive legal expertise to each case.

Walsh said victims and their families are treated with dignity and respect throughout the investigation and prosecution phases. This is unique to Carteret County.

“It should not matter where a person dies in NC to receive an investigation and justice, but it does,” she said

Walsh thanked Shannon Adams for serving as the local co-host of the event. Shannon’s brother, Ryan, thought he was dependent on Percocet, yet died in 2019 from undisclosed fentanyl additives in those pills.

Shawne Moran and Keenan, First Responder Therapy Dogs of Eastern North Carolina, were on hand to comfort the victim families and to discuss what they do to support recovery efforts in Carteret County.

For more information, visit www.fentvic.org or email info@fentvic.org to connect with local fentanyl victim families.

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Carteret County Leaders Honored for Fentanyl Crisis Response at Community Forum

This past Saturday, a community forum addressing the impact of fentanyl in Carteret County was held at the Beaufort Train Depot. During the event, Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas, Assistant District Attorney Dave Spence, and Legal Assistant Michelle Gillikin, all of Prosecutorial District 4, were honored with the Save Lives Together Award for their collaborative work in holding fentanyl traffickers accountable. Additionally, Brooke Barnhill, manager of the County’s Post Overdose Response Team (PORT), provided a Narcan (naloxone) demonstration and outlined local recovery resources.

Carteret County issued a news release from the event.

Download News Release PDF

Fentanyl Victims Network featured in NC Sheriff’s April Newsletter

The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina was featured in an article in the North Carolina Sherrif’a Association April newsletter. Read the newsletter online here.

Download Newsletter PDF

Fentanyl Victims Network of NC to present awards to Sheriff Buck, DA Thomas and team for top efforts to stop fentanyl traffickers

Read the original article on the Carolina Coast Online website.

BEAUFORT — The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, a nonprofit based in Wake County, plans to present awards to Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck, District Attorney Scott Thomas and his team for top efforts in the state to stop fentanyl traffickers.

A ceremony will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 12 at the Beaufort Train Depot to recognize Buck, Thomas, Assistant District Attorney David Spence and District Attorney Legal Assistant Michelle Gillikin.

Fentanyl victims and their families will also be recognized and the event is open to the public.

In addition, there will be guest speakers, including Brooke Barnhill with the Carteret County Department of Health and Human Services Post Overdose Response Team (PORT).

Fentanyl Victims Network Executive Director Barbara Walsh, whose daughter died after unintentionally ingesting fentanyl, said, “The Sheriff is receiving an award for having the most in NC of investigations and arrests of fentanyl traffickers who caused a death. This is not because Carteret has the highest rate of fentanyl fatalities in the state. It is because Sheriff Buck cares and allocates resources to find out what caused those deaths. He treats victims and their families with dignity and respect. Some sheriffs have zero arrests.”

She added that Thomas, Spence and Gillikin are receiving awards for the most prosecutions in NC of fentanyl traffickers who cause death, the Death by Distribution charge.

“Again, this is not because Carteret has the highest number of traffickers, it is because the DA believes in keeping the community safe,” she said.

During the ceremony, Walsh said each reward recipient will speak. The event will also feature naloxone training and distribution of free naloxone. Public safety education and prevention materials will be provided.

According to their website, The Fentanyl Victims Network is a nonpartisan, action-oriented statewide grassroots nonprofit that promotes public safety, education, justice, advocacy and support of NC fentanyl victim families in all 100 North Carolina counties. The Beaufort event will be the 28th public safety and education event hosted by the organization in North Carolina.

Other purposes of the group are to spark safety conversations about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly counterfeit pressed pills, and to help provide access to life-saving naloxone in schools and communities. It’s also to connect NC Fentanyl Victim families for support and advocacy.

According to the organization, 18,594 NC residents were killed by fentanyl from 2013-23, and seven out of 10 street-pressed, copy-cat pills contain lethal fentanyl additives. The organization also provided a chart showing that from 2013-23 there were 168 fentanyl fatalities in Carteret County, with 29 Death by Distribution arrests.

In a joint statement about receiving the awards, Buck and Thomas said, “We have been working together as a team on all criminal matters since 2006 including the prescription drug issue which fueled the current heroin and fentanyl crisis we have faced in recent years. We have worked together to strictly prosecute drug offenders and we have supported treatment and recovery efforts to help people achieve recovery from their addictions and go on to live productive and healthy lives,” they stated

“We commend the tremendous work that has been done in the area of investigating overdose deaths and prosecuting these cases by Sheriff’s Office Detectives, other local police departments and the District Attorney’s Office prosecutors and legal staff. We are very proud of all of the work that has been done by these dedicated public servants investigating, prosecuting and holding accountable the offenders who have caused the deaths of citizens in our area. We hope our efforts have provided some sense of justice and closure to the families of these overdose victims.”

In addition, Buck and Thomas stated, “Everything we do should send a message to the public that we are working to address serious issues in our community and to let the criminal offenders know that we will not tolerate this type of activity and we seek to arrest, jail and prosecute them.”

For more information about the organization, go to Fentvic.org.

Contact Cheryl Burke at 252-726-7081, ext. 255; email Cheryl@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @cherylccnt.