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Hampstead man accused of providing fentanyl that killed 18-year-old woman

HAMPSTEAD, N.C. (WECT) – A Hampstead man was arrested in March following the death of an 18-year-old woman from a suspected fentanyl overdose, according to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO).

Daniel Blaine Joye was arrested for death by distribution on March 12 after he allegedly delivered fentanyl that resulted in a fatal overdose.

Daniel Blaine Joye(Pender County Sheriff’s Office)

According to PCSO and available search warrants, deputies and EMS personnel responded to a residence on Mullein Drive in Hampstead on Feb. 27 after receiving a 911 call about an unconscious woman. The victim was identified as Shelby Slye of Hampstead.

A witness told dispatch she saw a man dragging a woman toward a car. The witness, a nursing student, began CPR on Slye.

Warrants state Joye told deputies he found Slye unresponsive but breathing and tried to get her into a car to take her to the hospital. He said he noticed blue discoloration around her lips and shallow breathing. Slye was transported to Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, where she was pronounced dead on Feb. 28.

Warrants also state Joye allegedly told deputies at the scene that Slye had a history of narcotics abuse and had consumed a fifth of liquor during the day. However, hospital employees later told detectives Slye’s toxicology report showed no signs of alcohol use, according to records.

Detectives served a search warrant at the Mullein Drive residence on March 1. During the search, Joye was found in possession of fentanyl and was arrested. The fentanyl was packaged in wax paper bindles stamped “We The Best.”

A second search warrant led to the seizure of additional fentanyl packaged in the same bindles, empty bindles with the same stamp, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and cell phones belonging to Joye and Slye, according to records.

The warrant states a woman at the residence told detectives Joye routinely purchases fentanyl and other narcotics and provided fentanyl to Slye on a regular basis. Records state the woman said she believed Joye was Slye’s source of illegal narcotics.

Detectives attended Slye’s autopsy on March 3 at Onslow Memorial Hospital. The search warrant states presumptive fentanyl urine test showed a positive indication of fentanyl in Slye’s urine.

On March 12, detectives secured additional charges against Joye related to the overdose death. Joye faces the following charges:

Felony death by distribution
Possess with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver Schedule II (three counts)
Deliver Schedule II controlled substance
Possession of Schedule II
Maintain vehicle, dwelling, place, controlled substance
Possession of drug paraphernalia (two counts)

Joye appeared in court on March 13. He was appointed a public defender and his bond was set at $125,000.

Leland man pleads guilty to death by distribution

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WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – A Leland man has pleaded guilty to charges involving a fatal overdose in 2022.

42-year-old William McKinley Huckaby pleaded guilty to death by distribution and attempted trafficking in methamphetamine, according to a release from the District Attorney’s Office.

James Ray Lewis, 42, died from fentanyl toxicity on June 24, 2022. Investigators from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office discovered a syringe and other drug paraphernalia near his body, which suggested fentanyl ingestion.

Detectives later discovered text messages between the two men. In one message, Huckaby encouraged Lewis to steal vacuums from a retailer in exchange for drugs, according to authorities.

The other messages also indicate that Huckaby had previously profited from tools Lewis stole in exchange for drugs, according to the DA’s Office.

Law enforcement claimed that Huckaby had roughly 26 grams of methamphetamine and a dosage unit of fentanyl on him when he was arrested.

“William Huckaby encouraged those severely addicted to opioids to steal merchandise for him with the promise of fentanyl for payment,” District Attorney Jason W. Smith said. “Huckaby’s exploitation of the addicted represents why our lawmakers enacted the Death by Distribution law. In many instances, severe addiction disrupts the decision-making parts of the brain, and those who profit while exploiting this addiction will be sent to prison.”

Huckaby was sentenced to 76 to 104 months in prison and 2 years in the residential recovery program TROSA afterward.

North Carolina attorney general targets popular texting app linked to fentanyl crisis

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WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is cracking down on a popular texting app that he says is helping fuel the fentanyl epidemic.

In a Monday announcement, Jackson and five other attorneys general said they’ve sent a letter to the leaders of the app “WeChat” for allegedly playing a role in fentanyl money laundering.

“We wanna hit the cartels where it hurts,” Jackson told WECT. “And where it hurts is this money laundering, this digital pipeline that has opened up.”

The Chinese-based app, with over a billion users around the world and thousands in North Carolina, is designed to support encrypted communication between people, and also has an integrated payment system. But criminals are using that payment system, Jackson said, to launder drug money.

WeChat is at the center of a triangle of criminal activity between the United States, China, and cartels, Jackson said. The cartels move fentanyl into the U.S., and the sales money then goes to China. Laundered money and goods then move “discreetly” from China back to the cartels, Jackson said, with communication and money transfers often going through WeChat.

This graphic shows the ‘pipeline’ by which fentanyl is brought into the US and payments are funneled through Chinese money launderers back to the cartels.(NC DOJ)

“The motive for most crime is money. If you want to reduce the crime, you reduce the money. The way we reduce the money here is focusing on WeChat,” he said.

The attorney general said he’s given WeChat 30 days to identify potential solutions to the issue. The app has “yet to adequately address the exploitation of its platform by criminal actors,” the announcement said.

A comment request from a WeChat representative wasn’t immediately returned.

“We want them to do enough to change the reputation that WeChat has, because right now, WeChat has a reputation as a safe haven for facilitating money laundering,” Jackson said.

The fentanyl crisis has affected communities around the state and country; with roughly six per day, overdoses from the drug are now the leading cause of death for people under the age of 45 in North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice.

Monday’s announcement also cited several recent investigations and criminal cases that involved WeChat being used in fentanyl-related money laundering:

“The 2021 conviction of Xizhi Li, who managed an international criminal network using WeChat to coordinate bulk cash transfers between Chinese banks and drug cartels.
Operation Chem Capture (2023), in which eight companies and 12 individuals were indicted for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals, with transactions coordinated through WeChat.
Collaboration between Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Chinese laundering networks, which regularly use WeChat to facilitate cash pickups, currency swaps, and repatriation of drug proceeds.
A recent 2024 federal indictment in South Carolina, charging three defendants with using WeChat to communicate in order to launder proceeds from fentanyl sales as part of an international conspiracy.”

Wilmington man charged for allegedly causing fatal overdose in Pender County

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PENDER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – A Wilmington man has been arrested in connection to a death by distribution investigation in Pender County.

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) says Anthony Quinn Marshall has been charged for allegedly causing the death of Jessica Kelly of Currie, NC.

Deputies and Pender Emergency Services responded to Blueberry Road where they found Kelly unconscious. Responders attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead.

“Through investigation, detectives concluded that the cause of death was due to a fatal overdose,” a PCSO representative wrote in a press release.

Marshall was arrested on Feb. 24 and placed in the Pender County Jail under a $250,000 secured bond.

According to his arrest warrant, he was charged with death by distribution, sell/deliver cocaine, sell Sch II controlled substances, possession with the intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver (PWIMSD) cocaine, PWIMSD Sch II controlled substances, manufacture Sch II controlled substances, manufacture cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.