harnett county Archives - Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina fentvic.org

North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agents said they arrested a Harnett County man with more than 30 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill 15,400 people.

Christopher William Johnston, 34, of Spring Lake, is charged with 10 counts of trafficking fentanyl, among other charges.

Agents said they searched a mobile home on Peggy Street on Thursday, seizing cocaine, opioids, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana and over $12,000 in cash.

Johnston was arrested and charged with:

Felony trafficking in fentanyl – 10 counts
Felony conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl – 2 counts
Felony maintain a vehicle for a controlled substance – 2 counts
Felony assault on a law enforcement officer causing physical injury
Felony trafficking in opium
Felony possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine
Felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance
Assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer – 2 counts
Injury to personal property
Possession of drug paraphernalia
Possession of marijuana

Johnston is accused of trafficking the drugs at ABC-licensed businesses in Harnett County.

Johnston is also accused of trying to run over several officers while trying to avoid arrest, leaving one agent with minor injuries. He’s being held in the Harnett County Detention Center without bond.

The suspect’s brother, Nicholas Jacob Johnston, 36, of Spring Lake, was also charged with fentanyl trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia. He has not been arrested.

15,400 lethal fentanyl doses seized in Harnett County trafficking bust, ALE says

Read the original article and watch the video on the WITN website.

HARNETT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – The North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement seized more than 15,400 lethal doses of fentanyl, following a month-long investigation into trafficking in Harnett County.

According to court records, Christopher Johnston was charged with the following:

10 counts of trafficking fentanyl
Two counts of conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl
Two counts of maintaining a vehicle for a controlled substance
One count of trafficking in opium
One count of possession of a schedule I controlled substance
One count of assault inflicting physical injury on a law enforcement officer
Two counts of assault with a deadly weapon
One count of injury to personal property
One count of possession of drug paraphernalia
One count of possession of marijuana
One count of possession of cocaine

Law enforcement said they also seized cocaine, opioids, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana and over $12,000 in cash after executing a search warrant at Johnston’s home in Spring Lake.

During the arrest, court records say that Johnston tried to run over special agents during the arrest with a BMW. One agent had minor injuries, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Christopher Johnston’s brother, Nicholas Johnston, has been charged in connection with the investigation with the following, according to NCDPS:

Three counts of trafficking in fentanyl
One count of conspiring to traffic in fentanyl
Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Nicholas Johnston has not been arrested, according to law enforcement.

34-year-old Christopher Johnston received a $500,000 secured bond and will appear next in court on Nov. 10.

Sanford men charged in same woman’s death

Separate warrants allege both men delivered the substance that killed Mary Yarter

Read the original article on the Harnett Daily Record website.

Two Sanford men face aggravated death by distribution charges after separate Harnett County warrants allege each delivered a controlled substance to the same woman in connection with her death.

Carlos Honorio Peoples, left, and Demetrios Antwon Faucette, right.

Demetrios Antwon Faucette, 40, of Highland Circle, and Carlos Honorio Peoples, 39, of Hawkins Avenue, are charged in separate cases involving the death of Mary Yarter. Court records list Aug. 23 as the alleged offense date in both cases.

According to the arrest warrants, Faucette and Peoples are each accused of delivering a controlled substance to Yarter, whose ingestion of the substance allegedly caused her death.

Neither warrant identifies the controlled substance.

Court records do not explain whether the men are accused of acting together, whether the charges involve the same delivery of drugs or what role investigators allege each man played in the circumstances leading to Yarter’s death.

An obituary for Mary Elise Yarter, 26, of Sanford, published by Miller-Boles Funeral Home, lists Carlos Peoples as her husband. The obituary does not include a middle name for Peoples.

Both aggravated death by distribution charges are classified as Class B1 felonies.

Leonardo Castellanos of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office is listed as the complainant in both cases. Warrants for both men were issued Oct. 1.

Faucette was arrested Oct. 4 and made his first appearance by video the following day. District Court Judge Terry F. Rose set his bond at $500,000 secured, and attorney Jonathan W. Stillo was appointed to represent him.

2 arrested in overdose death

Accused of dealing deadly drugs

Read the original article on the Harnett County Daily Record website (may be behind paywall).

Two Harnett County men are facing death by distribution charges in the April 2024 overdose death of a 29-year-old wife and mother of three.

The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office arrested 32-year-old Cody Keen Pope, of 2717 Old Stage Road South in Erwin, and 42-year-old Jonathan William Smith, of 134 S. Railroad St., Coats, in the death of Logan Brianne Carr. Both men face charges of death by distribution through the unlawful sale or delivery of certain controlled substances, namely fentanyl and methamphetamine in this case.

Carr was a homemaker and the mother of one son and two daughters.

“Logan was a beautiful bright soul with sparkling eyes, big smile, and a quick laugh,” her obituary states. “She never saw the bad in people, only the hope of what they could be.”

Prior to her death, Carr was accepted to the community college system and was planning to pursue a degree in criminal justice with the goal of becoming a probation officer. She was battling an addiction the day she died on Sunday, April 14, 2024. She is survived by her children, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, sister’s family and a host of other family members and friends.

Logan Brianne Carr, 29, died of an overdose on April 14, 2024.

Pope and Smith were both out on bond in other cases when they were taken into custody for the deadly distribution charge on Wednesday. In Pope’s other case, he’s facing charges of identity theft and obtaining property through a false pretense from a reported offense in January 2024, when he was accused of transferring $2,500 out of another guy’s CashApp into his account. He was initially arrested on those charges six weeks after Carr’s death.

Smith was out on a $500,000 bond, awaiting a December 2025 hearing on charges of felony possession of marijuana, four counts of trafficking in meth and trafficking in opioids when he was picked up Wednesday.

In a first appearance hearing Thursday, Pope’s bond was set at $750,000 secured and Smith’s was set at $1 million secured.

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Harnett County Naloxone in Schools Policy

Fentvic is tracking policy for Naloxone in schools across the state. To make the policies easier to find, a table has been added to this page. Harnett County Schools has been added to the table.

If you have information on a county not recorded in the table, please share the URL with us by sending it to naloxone@fentvic.org.

Harnett man accused of poisoning 4 people

Alleged crimes leave 12 without a parent

Read the original article on the Daily Record website.

A Harnett County man with a history of law enforcement interaction for the past 20 years has been indicted by a grand jury for distributing fentanyl that killed four people on the morning of March 28, 2020.

The jury returned a true bill of indictment on Feb. 26 charging Gerard LaSalle McLean, 37, of 446 Raynor McLamb Road, Bunnlevel, with four counts each of death by distribution and aggravated death by distribution.

“There were two scenes,” explained Harnett County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Aaron Meredith. The first victim, Shannon Lynette McLean, was located at 112 Blake St. in Lillington at 12:49 a.m. Three other victims were found dead in a car located at 242 Nutgrass Road in Bunnlevel at 7:37 a.m.

“There were others who overdosed at both locations and survived,” Meredith shared.

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Harnett Man Linked To Fentanyl Deaths Of 4 People, Authorities Say

HARNETT COUNTY – A Harnett County man with a history of law enforcement interaction for the past 20 years has been indicted by a grand jury for distributing fentanyl that killed four people on the morning of March 28, 2020.

The indictment alleges Gerard McLean sold fentanyl to a person identified as Courtney McLean. Investigators say this substance was ingested by Shannon McLean and she died as a result.

While looking into this indictment, the Record learned that Gerard McLean has three other related indictments stemming from his alleged distribution of fentanyl in March 2020.

Lt. R.S. Jackson, of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office and a homicide detective in the criminal investigation division, charged Gerard McLean with three counts of death by distribution on March 28, 2020. He was arrested on May 6, 2020. He has been held under a $600,000 secured bond since that time. Based on this arrest and a prior drug conviction in Cumberland County, the jury agreed on charges of aggravated death by distribution in the deaths of Shannon McLean, Ervin Bass Jr., Laketa Vinson and Brittany Shaw.

The last three indictments were returned on July 6 and served on Gerard McLean in the Harnett County Detention Center the following day.

The indictments allege that the fentanyl was purchased from Gerard McLean by Brittany Shaw and ingested by Bass, Vinson and Shaw, resulting in their deaths.

All four of Gerard McLean’s alleged victims died on March 28, 2020.