Two Drug Traffickers Arrested Operating Near a County School in Beaufort
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Greenville woman charged in 2023 overdose death of man found in vehicle
A Greenville woman has been arrested and charged in Craven County related to the overdose death of a Rocky Run Road man in Dec. 2023.
Amy Sue Gunter, 47, was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 9 after an investigation by the Craven County Sheriff’s Office.
In late December 2023 a man was found deceased in his vehicle at a Rocky Run Road residence. The death appeared to be the result of an overdose, and the North Carolina State Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed the death was from a fentanyl overdose.
Officials say that an investigation revealed the victim had purchased narcotics from Gunter prior to his death.
Gunter has been charged with the following:
- Felony Sell and Deliver Schedule II Controlled Substance
- Possession with Intent to Manufacture, Sell, and Deliver Schedule II Controlled Substance
Gunter was being held at the Craven County Detention Center on a $100,000 secured bond as of Jan. 9.
Town hall meeting to educate public on dangers of fentanyl
Event organizers are sounding the alarm on the fentanyl crisis that continues to claim lives. The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina will hold a town hall meeting in Wilson from 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, at Foundation YMCA of Wilson at 233 Nash St.
The purpose of the event, organizers say, is to spark public safety conversations about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly when it’s found in counterfeit pressed pills like Adderall, Xanax and Percocet.
Organizers will also be distributing naloxone, which goes by the brand name Narcan, and train those attending on how to administer the lifesaving antidote. Local families will also share their heart-wrenching stories of how their loved ones have died from fentanyl poisonings. The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
Barb Walsh, founder of Fentanyl Victims Network, has been working with Wilson families who are reeling from the loss of their own children who have died as a result of unintentional fentanyl deaths. The hope, she said, is to bring awareness to a problem that is plaguing the country, the state and Wilson.
“This is a public safety problem we want to address,” Walsh said.
Walsh is holding several town halls throughout the state.
“I chose Wilson because there is a pocket of very active families,” Walsh said. “We have two death by distribution cases going on (in the court system).
Local elected officials, public health professionals, advocates, parents of fentanyl victims, first responders and representatives from the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition and the Wilson County district attorney’s office will be in attendance at the Feb. 1 town hall meeting. Local law enforcement members have also been invited, organizers said.
“I think it’s important for people to see these numbers and realize how many people are dying,” said Lisa Bennett, co-organizer of the event. Bennett lost her son, 22-year-old Mason Bennett, in February 2023. He died after taking what he believed was a Percocet, a prescription painkiller, but it was laced with fentanyl, she has said. Since her son’s death, Bennett has been working with Walsh and her nonprofit.
Walsh said 18,457 people in North Carolina have died as a result of fentanyl over a 10-year period.
From 2013 to October 2023, there have been 138 fentanyl deaths in Wilson County alone, according to state data Walsh has compiled.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
Walsh founded the Raleigh-based nonprofit after her daughter, Sophia Walsh, died from fentanyl poisoning in August 2021. Walsh’s daughter drank what she thought was a bottled water from someone’s refrigerator.
Unbeknownst to her, it contained diluted fentanyl. Sophia died, and no one called 911 until 10 hours later, Walsh said. No one was charged.
“We didn’t know what she died from until five months later,” Walsh said.
After her daughter’s death, Walsh channeled her grief into research, advocacy and justice for other victims. Walsh has worked across the state to bring awareness to the dangers of fentanyl and has worked with families to demand justice in their cases by utilizing state law and getting those responsible charged.
‘IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD’
Walsh said there’s a misconception about fentanyl deaths. She said not all deaths are the result of someone in active addiction. Some people are simply experimenting.
Seven out of 10 “street” pressed copycat pills contain lethal fentanyl additives, according to officials.
Fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, is a synthetic opioid that can be lethal even in small doses.
“It could happen to your child,” Walsh said. “The pressed pills are the culprit.”
Organizers hope to educate families and encourage parents to talk with their children about the dangers that are out there.
“If we can stop just one family from having to go through this it will be worth it,” Bennett said.
Bennett said more lives will be saved if more people are armed with Narcan.
“They cannot save themselves,” Walsh said. “Someone in the community will have to save them.”
For more information about Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina visit www.fentvic.org.
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.
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.
Family files wrongful death suit against Brunswick County Sheriff, deputies, and parole officer
Read the original article or listen to the audio on the WHQR website.
Tina and Tom Johnson have brought a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Brian Chism and several other law enforcement officers. They’re alleging that the department is responsible for the death of their daughter Brittany Johnson. WHQR’s Nikolai Mather sat down with news director Ben Schachtman to discuss the details of this case.
Ben Schachtman: Nikolai — thanks for joining us. So the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are Tina and Tom Johnson. You’ve reported on story before: remind people who they are and what’s the latest.
Nikolai Mather: Yeah, so, the Johnsons are a married couple from Supply. They lost their daughter Brittany Johnson to a meth overdose in 2022. Ever since then, they’ve been asking the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office to share the findings of its investigation into her death. Now, they’re suing several law enforcement officers, saying that they should be held responsible for her death.
BS: So who specifically are they suing?
NM: Four of the defendants are named. There’s Alexander Melvin, who is a deputy for BCSO’s drug enforcement unit; Timmie Clemmons, who is a BCSO detective; Sheriff Brian Chism, and Alice Camden Alessandra, who was Brittany Johnson’s parole officer at the time of her death. The Johnsons are also suing 5 John Does, saying that because they don’t yet know everyone involved in their daughter’s death, they’re using those names as placeholders. They’re also suing Brunswick County as a whole.
BS: Gotcha. So what’s the Johnsons’ case for this as a wrongful death?
NM: Well, to understand that, you have to understand the rocky relationship they have with BCSO.
After investigating, the sheriff’s office declared her cause of death to be accidental drug overdose, with no foul play suspected. But the Johnsons think that’s not the full story. Like, after her death, they found a Bluetooth connection in their daughter’s car labeled “BCSO Surveillance Unit 098.” The sheriff’s office told them they had no idea where it came from, but the Johnsons think it suggests their daughter was a confidential informant for the department.
They’ve asked the sheriff for answers. BCSO told them their daughter wasn’t a CI, but didn’t say whether her friends were. And in a lot of instances, the office has clammed up entirely, saying they need a court order for more info.
BS: So, to be clear, these allegations are things BCSO has disputed or declined to comment on?
NM: Right. These allegations are based on the Johnsons’ own findings, in their own private investigation. And they now say that they have reason to believe their daughter was a confidential informant for the sheriff. Brittany had previously struggled with drug addiction, and her family says putting her in that position ultimately contributed to her relapse and to her death.
BS: I see. So this is a pretty big step – a federal lawsuit is no joke. But I was curious as to whether they were pursuing any criminal charges here, in addition to these civil charges.
NM: That process is a little different. You can ask the FBI or the SBI to look into a case. But ultimately, criminal investigations are up to those guys, whereas anyone can file a civil lawsuit. You’ve been covering the courts longer than me, Ben — is it typical for a civil lawsuit to be filed when there isn’t a criminal investigation?
BS: It really depends on the case. When it comes to law enforcement, there might be a lot of things that aren’t illegal but constitute policy violations. That could involve a review by state authorities — but it wouldn’t be for criminal charges. Also, it’s worth noting that in North Carolina, as in many states, the standard of proof for crimes like involuntary manslaughter — or negligent homicide — is going to be more intense than proving liability in a civil case.
NM: For sure.
BS: So, what’s next for this case?
NM: Well, I asked BCSO some questions about this lawsuit. Glenn Emery, an attorney with the office, said they couldn’t really comment on an ongoing lawsuit.
There’s not a trial date quite yet. The plaintiffs will have to respond, and will likely ask to dismiss the case. But if it stays in court, there will be discovery — meaning the Johnsons will have to produce their evidence, and the Sheriff’s Office will likely have to turn over some documents as well. If the case proceeds, there’s also a good chance some of the people they mention in the suit will be brought in for sworn depositions or asked to sign affidavits.
BS: That was WHQR’s rural reporter Nikolai Mather. Nikolai, thanks for coming by.
NM: You’re welcome.
On a mission to prosecute fentanyl dealers, Union County opens its own autopsy center
Read the original article on the Charlotte Observer website.
When autopsy backlogs in North Carolina threatened Union County officers’ ability to prosecute drug overdose cases, they opened their own center to continue their yearslong drug purge amid state delays.
A temporary autopsy center that opened in the bottom of a Monroe hospital Dec. 17 is the ninth regional center in the state. It’s also one county’s latest attempt to combat two issues plaguing the state: drug deaths and autopsy delays.
The North Carolina General Assembly since its 2023 session has given Union County $22 million to open the South Piedmont Regional Autopsy Center under oversight from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The county soon hopes find a permanent building to better host eight more counties and get the proper accreditation to help with the toxicology reports backlog, too.
Autopsy and toxicology backlogs have been caused by increasing overdose deaths and too few forensic pathologists, a Charlotte Observer investigation revealed last year. They leave grieving families and investigating law enforcement waiting too long for answers.
For Union County, those delays were made worse when the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner moved Union County’s autopsies from Mecklenburg County — less than an hour away — to Wake County — about three hours away — in 2022.
The switch was supposed to help with backlogs, but transportation time coupled with the Raleigh center’s staffing shortages created more delays, said Tony Underwood, the chief deputy of operations with the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
Each Raleigh pathologist, the Observer previously reported, completes, on average, 557 autopsies each year. That’s more than twice the number recommended by a national accrediting group, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley previously told the Observer.
“Bottom line, plain and simple, the medical examination system is in crisis,” Kinsley said.
The Raleigh autopsy center told Underwood it does not “routinely do full autopsies in suspected drug overdose cases,” he said in an interview with the Observer.
Mecklenburg’s center did, Underwood said.
The change became a problem for Union County law enforcement.
The sheriff’s office and Union District Attorney Trey Robison were charging and prosecuting drug dealers who sold deadly substances to people even before a state law paved the way to do that.
A 2019 bill introduced a “death by distribution” charge to North Carolina, allowing dealers to be charged with killing someone by selling or giving them the drug that killed them. It is largely regarded as a “hard-to-prove” charge, but Union County is among the top counties pursuing and prosecuting it, according to nonprofit research by the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Union County, Underwood said, had been charging dealers with second-degree murder before “death by distribution” was introduced.
That meant Union County officers were routinely requesting autopsies and toxicology reports in almost every overdose case.
But in Raleigh, they sometimes needed to have “probable cause” that a crime was committed to request an autopsy, Underwood said. Toxicology reports, which show what substances were in a person’s system when they died, typically give probable cause.
But state toxicology reports are finished more slowly than autopsy reports, sometimes taking months or years to be completed.
In 2023 in Raleigh, the medical examiner’s office had just one forensic toxicologist to certify all drug casework, the Observer previously reported.
Union County’s temporary autopsy center is a step in the right direction, said Barb Walsh, the founder and executive director of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. But North Carolina really needs more toxicologists, she said.
Walsh, whose daughter died after unknowingly drinking from a water bottle that had fentanyl in it, had to wait five months to learn what killed her daughter in 2021.
“And I thought that was awful,” she said, “but I am consistently getting calls from families that are waiting 10 and 12 months.”
From 2019 to 2023, according to the state health department, North Carolina experienced a 26% increase in cases. That was “undoubtedly influenced by the 69% increase in suspected drug overdose cases,” spokesperson Hannah Jones wrote in an email.
“Another regional autopsy center is a welcome addition to the NC Medical Examiner System to help with the many cases that come through,” she wrote.
In 2025, Underwood said, the sheriff’s office is seeking accreditation to expand its toxicology lab — which is currently used to test blood from impaired drivers — to be able to test blood from those who died from an overdose or fentanyl poisoning.
Hard-to-prove NC drug law leaves families of fentanyl victims chasing justice
Read the original article on the Charlotte Observer website.
Skateboard wheels skid in front of Sadie’s home, scraping, squeaking, then moving on. She paces between the porch rails, trying to peek at the face below the rider’s floppy hair.
Is it Laird? Looks like Laird. Sounds like him, too, Gwyneth Brown imagines Sadie, her panting, shedding German Shepherd, is thinking.
“I’m with Sadie on this one,” said Brown. “I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
The pair have been waiting more than a year for one of the skaters to kick up their board and walk up the front steps. They never do. It’s never Laird.
Laird Ramirez, a 17-year-old Mecklenburg highschooler, skateboarder and wrestler, died last July after taking a pressed pill that disguised fentanyl — a lethal synthetic opioid — as a Percocet, his parents said.
The Charlotte Observer reported a year ago on accounts from parents and students of how those $7 pills infiltrated Hough High School and how drug incidents inside Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools reached a 10-year high amidst Laird’s death.
Justice, Brown said, did not follow in his wake. While law enforcement and prosecutors say they’re aggressively going after people whose drugs lead to an overdose or fentanyl poisoning, some families say they haven’t seen that — and they’re searching for ways to cope once court dates pass.
Mecklenburg death by distribution cases
A man who was 21 in July 2023 was accused of selling Laird fentanyl and charged with death by distribution.
Brown says there was video footage of that drug deal. She says the drugs captured on camera killed her son. Half a pill was still in his wallet when police returned it to her.
Durham man charged with death by distribution in overdose case. Is that common in NC?
Read the original article on the Raleigh News and Observer website.
More than a year after a Carrboro man fatally overdosed, a Durham man has been accused of selling him the fentanyl that killed him, police said Tuesday.
David Allen Bonita, 34, is charged with death by distribution in the March 29, 2023, death of Arman Guerra Imani, 32, according to a Carrboro Police Department news release. Bonita allegedly sold and delivered fentanyl to Imani, who died after injecting it, Bonita’s arrest warrant states.
Imani was found unresponsive by his mother in the bathroom of his East Winmore Avenue home shortly before 3 p.m. that day, according to an investigative report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He was last known to be alive around midnight.
Imani’s cause of death was an accidental overdose due to “acute ethanol, fentanyl, gabapentin, methadone and mitragynine toxicity,” the medical examiner’s investigative report states.
Bonita’s arrest warrant was issued on Oct. 31, but he was not arrested by members of the Carolinas Regional U.S. Marshals Task Force until Tuesday, police said. He is being held in the Orange County Detention Center on $150,000 secured bond, records show.
Fentanyl deaths, death by distribution charges in the Triangle
Bonita’s arrest mirrors another recent case in Carrboro in which Jeremiah Hargrove, 20, of Selma was charged with death by distribution in the June 27, 2023, death of Serguei Ndinga Momo, 21, The News & Observer previously reported. Momo also overdosed on fentanyl, police said.
The most recent data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shows that as of July, there were 169 fentanyl-positive deaths throughout the state, a decrease from the 262 fentanyl-positive deaths North Carolina had seen by July 2023. In Orange County, there had been nine fentanyl-positive deaths as of Nov. 25., the department reported. That’s a decline from the 26 fentanyl-positive deaths in the county from January to August 2023, data shows.
Death by distribution charges remain relatively uncommon throughout the state and the Triangle, statewide data shows.
Throughout North Carolina, 54 death by distribution charges were filed from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, according to data obtained by The N&O from the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. During that same period, no new death by distribution charges were filed in Orange or Durham counties, and only one new charge was filed in Wake County.
A born naturalist and animal lover
Imani, a graduate of East Chapel Hill High School who attended UNC-Wilmington, was described by loved ones in his obituary as “a born naturalist.” The 32-year-old animal lover was passionate about politics and social justice and enjoyed gardening, fishing, cooking and searching for edible plants in the woods, according to his obituary.
“He wanted to change the paradigm on how Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is treated in the US, allowing for a more open spectrum of treatment options,” the obituary states.
Above all, Imani’s legacy is the kindness he showed to those around him, his obituary says.
“The one enduring trait that people will remember about Arman was his kindness,” the obituary said. “In keeping with Arman’s way of life, in lieu of flowers or gifts, we ask that you convey kindness unto others, especially those who are in need.”
Financial sanctions can disrupt fentanyl flows to the United StatesRe
Read the original article on the Atlantic Council website.
Today, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the leaders of La Linea, a violent Mexican drug cartel responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs to the United States. The designations are just the latest example of how the US government is trying to grapple with the fentanyl epidemic, which has become one of the top national security threats to the United States. It is one of the leading causes of death among young and middle-aged Americans, having killed nearly 75,000 Americans in 2023.
Financial partnerships between Chinese money laundering organizations (CMLO) and Mexican cartels have made it more challenging for US law enforcement agencies to track the movements of drug money. Financial sanctions have so far proven an effective tool in reducing the growth in crypto-denominated fentanyl sales and should be used more frequently by the US government to tactically disrupt the trade of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
Buyer Beware: Bad Actors Exploit De Minimis Shipments
What the American public needs to know and how CBP is tackling the problem
Read the full article on the US Customs and Border Protection website.
Contrary to popular belief, good things do not always come in small packages. In fiscal year 2023, 85% of the shipments U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized for health and safety violations were small packages. The packages contained dangerous materials that could cause serious harm to American consumers and the U.S. economy. Propelled by online shopping, duty-free de minimis shipments—packages with an aggregate value of $800 or less—are skyrocketing and putting consumers at risk.
Currently, de minimis shipments account for 92% of all cargo entering the U.S. and that figure is growing in epic proportions. CBP processes approximately 4 million de minimis shipments a day, up from 2.8 million last year. Bad actors are exploiting this explosion in volume to traffic counterfeits, dangerous narcotics, and other illicit goods including precursor chemicals and materials such as pill presses and die molds used to manufacture fentanyl and other synthetic drugs that are killing Americans.
The majority of the more than 1 billion de minimis shipments CBP processed last year were in the air environment. Roughly 800 million, or 88%, of these shipments arrived through international mail; express courier services such as UPS, DHL, and FedEx; or were transported as cargo on commercial airline flights. At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York where 25% of all de minimis shipments are processed, the volume is staggering. “On any given day, we could receive and process 750,000 to a million de minimis shipments,” said Andrew Renna, Assistant Port Director for Cargo Operations at JFK Airport. Along with four express courier facilities, the airport houses the country’s largest by volume international mail facility where 60% of international mail arrives in the U.S. “We have limited resources,” said Renna. “We only have X number of staff. There is no physical way if I doubled or even tripled my staffing that I could look at a significant percentage of that. So due to the volume, it’s a very exploitable mode of entry into the U.S.”
“De minimis,” a Latin expression that means trivial or so minor that something can be disregarded, is anything but in the trade realm. Bad actors employ a number of techniques to smuggle items or evade paying duties. Undervaluation of goods, misclassification of merchandise, inaccurate or vague cargo descriptions, and describing products as something innocuous when, in fact, they’re harmful are just a few of the tactics.
“We’ve encountered shipments that have been declared as footwear and jackets, but found smuggled beef, pork, and poultry animal products instead,” said Renna. “The products are prohibited in the United States because of the risk of foreign animal disease. Should an animal disease outbreak occur in the United States, it could have significant impact on the U.S. economy and the world economy. Any disruption to the food supply chain causes economic harm,” said Renna. “Just this year so far at JFK, we have seized over 33,000 pounds of prohibited animal products in the de minimis environment. Many of the countries that we’ve seized this from are affected by African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and avian influenza or bird flu. The beef, pork, and poultry industries are collectively worth over $200 billion annually in the U.S. and they support millions of jobs. So in just this one area, where de minimis is being exploited, it’s harmful to our domestic agriculture supply.”