The Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment on Tuesday, alleging 38 defendants in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy.
The indictment, presented by U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston of the Middle District of North Carolina, includes 27 Tar Heel State residents.
All but one of the defendants are already in detention. Eighteen of them will make their first court appearances in North Carolina on Tuesday or Wednesday. If convicted, they may face life in prison for drug conspiracy and up to 20 years for money laundering conspiracy.
The narcotics distribution conspiracy accusations include fentanyl, which is a statewide concern.
“There is someone who has died from fentanyl in all 100 counties,” Barb Walsh informed me. “We connect the families so they can gain support and understanding.”
Walsh is the Executive Director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, which she formed following the death of her daughter, Sophia, at the age of 24.
“I was killed by fentanyl in a water bottle in 2021. It took us five months to discover that fentanyl had killed her. “It took seven months to realize it was the water bottle,” Walsh added. “We discovered that it was killing a lot of North Carolinians and that these families, like mine, felt extremely alone, and that no one cared to know how or why our loved one died. “When they heard the word fentanyl, they lost interest.”
Overdoses in the state are on the decline following Tuesday’s arrests. According to the most recent CDC data, deaths are expected to decrease by around 30% between 2023 and 2024. Walsh believes this is due to increased knowledge and provision of naloxone, which she recommends everyone to keep on hand, particularly because many victims are unaware they are swallowing fentanyl.
“They assume it’s Adderall. They believe they need to do well on the test, so they’ll take a pill from Snapchat that includes fentanyl, and they’ll die,” Walsh said. “That is how easily someone could die.”
She also wants folks who are grieving after a fentanyl death to know that there are resources available.
“Once we are gathered together and understanding our grief together, we have chosen to redirect our pain into passion, and that is to save someone else’s life by educating them about fentanyl,” according to Walsh.
Reference: Two dozen North Carolinians charged in drug trafficking ring