On Nov. 7, Dylan Alexander Jones was sentenced to 12 years, nine months in prison for trafficking counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl following a fatal overdose in Teachey. After his prison time, Jones will be on supervised release for five years. He must complete 50 hours of community service teaching youth about the dangers of fentanyl and the impact of drug abuse.
“The sentencing of Dylan Jones is a pivotal step in our ongoing fight against the devastating impact of drug overdose deaths. We stand firm in our commitment to justice for the victims and their families,” said Duplin County Sheriff Stratton Stokes. “I want to commend our exceptional team for their relentless dedication and professionalism in building this challenging case. Together, we are making strides toward a safer community.”
According to a media release made by Michael F. Easley Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, the 24-year-old from Wayne County pled guilty to one count of distribution of fentanyl and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in April. The release indicated that on July 22, 2022, Duplin County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive male in Teachey who was then confirmed dead by a firefighter on scene. A post-mortem toxicology report indicated fentanyl toxicity as the cause.
Law enforcement analyzed the victim’s cell phone and found he had received pills from an individual using a Snapchat account linked to Jones. GPS data showed they met at a Warsaw rest area shortly before the victim’s death. Additionally, between September and November 2022, law enforcement made three controlled purchases from Jones, all of which contained fentanyl. During the third buy, Jones was arrested while armed with a handgun. A search of his vehicle uncovered a 9mm pistol loaded with 16 rounds, fentanyl, and over $1,600 in cash.
“We are bringing swift justice against anyone trafficking counterfeit pills laced with deadly fentanyl, especially when their poison claims one of our neighbor’s lives,” stated Easley Jr. “North Carolina’s Sheriffs are prioritizing overdose death investigations like never before and have a direct line to my office to prosecute them. Our team has trained law enforcement across the district on building airtight cases to secure firm sentences in federal court. Our Sheriffs are going the distance to get justice for victims and keep North Carolina safe.”
The new 12,363-square-foot facility will house senior and veteran services offices
Jeremiah Daniels, Melisa Brown, Dexter Edwards, Wayne Branch, and Bryan Miller celebrate the ribbon cutting of the Senior & Veteran Services Center in Kenansville on Nov. 7. Photo by Ena Sellers / Duplin Journal
KENANSVILLE — A dream of a larger senior center has come to fruition for Melisa Brown, Duplin County Senior Services director, with the official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the Senior & Veteran Services Center at the Duplin Commons in Kenansville on Nov. 7.
The new 12,363-square-foot facility, now home to the senior services and veterans offices, will enable both departments to provide comprehensive services and foster social connection and community engagement.
The building provides ample and welcoming space for hosting events and facilitates access to resources for more seniors and veterans. It features a state-of-the-art gym, dedicated areas for crafts and classes, a conference room, and indoor and outdoor recreation areas, complete with TVs throughout the facility.
Retired Maj. Harvey Knowles (left), standing next to Bryan Miller, plays a rendition of God Bless America during the inaugural ceremony of the Senior & Veteran Services Center. Photo by Ena Sellers / Duplin Journal
“Here, our seniors will find support to live actively and independently while our veterans will receive the appreciation and assistance that reflects their service to our country,” said County Manager Bryan Miller during the inaugural ceremony, thanking all contributors to the project.
“Your support and commitment ensure this center is not just a building, but a vibrant, caring resource for all of those who walk through the doors,” said Miller. “We are grateful to everyone who contributed to making this vision a reality, and we look forward to all the good this center will bring our community.”
Retired Maj. Harvey Knowles, a World War II veteran, played a rendition of God Bless America with his harmonica, after which County Commissioner Dexter Edwards highlighted the $5 million state grant that helped fund the $6.2 million facility, emphasizing the importance of recognizing veterans.
County Manager Bryan Miller embraces Eloise McMahon with a big smile. McMahon, 92, volunteers at the senior center. Photo by Ena Sellers / Duplin Journal
“For each and every one of you that live here in Duplin County, you look through this facility and just think about what this would cost us from a tax level if we hadn’t had that grant from the state,” Edwards said.
He also spoke about his parents’ volunteer work with Senior Services and showed gratitude for the groundwork laid by seniors.
“They drilled in my heart and in my head that if we didn’t have seniors laying the groundwork for us youngsters, we wouldn’t have anything. So thank you, seniors,” said Edwards.
Brown reflected on the transition from the previous location and expressed her emotions about starting anew.
Photo by Ena Sellers / Duplin Journal
“Last Friday, we moved the last load from 213 Seminary Street. In the stillness of the moment, I walked around the office, and I remembered the faces of the ones that would not join us today and all the memories over the last 31 years,” said Brown, holding back tears. “Monday morning, we began a new chapter and started creating new, wonderful memories here on 156 Duplin County Street.”
Retired U.S. Army veteran Monte E. Thorne spoke about the duty to take care of veterans when they return home and expressed his optimism that with the new facility, Duplin County is now equipped to fulfill that duty.
“The veterans and families who will come here will often be concerned and sometimes may even be a little nervous. Sometimes they will come here on one of the most stressful days of their lives. Sometimes even unknowingly, in the last days of their lives. In other words, they will come here in the moments when they need the services the most. And when they do, we need to serve them just as well as they have served our country. Hopefully, this center will help us do just that,” said Thorne.
Cheerful guests mingle at the new Senior & Veteran Services Center in Kenansville on Nov. 7 as they await for the start of the inaugural ceremony. Photo by Ena Sellers / Duplin Journal
“Thank you for your courage, your passion, and your willingness to be moved by selfless service. Let us all remember that freedom is not free. But because of our veterans and our current men and women who are serving, we can proudly say, veterans, that our bill has been paid in full. To all who have worn the uniform and served our great nation, I salute you. Your courage, sacrifices, and unwavering dedication to duty has kept us safe and protected our most cherished freedoms. So on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you. We honor you today and every day.”
The ceremony concluded with a ribbon cutting followed by a tour of the new facility.
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The mountains continue to call to a group of River Landing and Wallace residents, who have made numerous trips to western North Carolina in the weeks since Tropical Storm Helene devastated the region. Emily Ludlum, Melissa Stevens, Jennifer Johnson and their families and neighbors have been collecting donations and supplies since the storm hit on Sept. 30.
Most recently, the group traveled to the small town of Minneapolis to deliver Thanksgiving meals and to help one family farm repair more than four miles of fencing.
“This is the worst area I’ve seen so far,” Ludlum told Duplin Journal. “It is a pretty low-income area, so people didn’t have much to start with, and the storm has just devastated the people there.”
One such family devastated by the storm is that of Rachel and Brandon Townsend, who happen to be third-generation cattle farmers.
“In talking to Rachel, their biggest need was fencing,” Ludlum said. “She specifically said they needed barbed wire and T-posts.”
Ludlum committed to help the Townsends’ farm by providing the wire and T-posts, but unfortunately, what was needed came to a cost of $13,000. “We couldn’t do that, so we committed to buying 500 T-posts and that was a little more manageable,” Ludlum said. “We put a group together and worked the weekend to help repair what fencing we could.”
That involved cutting down and chopping up trees along the way amidst some of the worst damage the team has seen so far.
“The pastures they have are now covered with river rock and mud,” Ludlum explained. “It’s just changed the landscape. One pasture now has a 10-foot-deep pond that’s about 50 feet wide. And then, the trees are hardwoods so they’re difficult to cut down and move.”
The Townsends gained back one field from the work the group was able to do over the weekend. They also helped the family purchase hay to feed the cows. “Because the pasture is covered with river rock and mud, the cows can’t eat,” Ludlum said, “so they’re having to feed them hay earlier than they normally would.”
And speaking of food, delivering Thanksgiving meals was the other portion of this past weekend’s trip.
“Our hometown church, Wallace Presbyterian, graced us with a large amount of money to do with what we needed,” Ludlum said. “I know when our houses flooded [in Hurricane Florence in 2018], it was right at the holidays. So we wanted to help a few families be able to have a Thanksgiving meal this year.”
Ludlum said the Wallace Piggly Wiggly worked to get everything ordered, including 55 turkeys, casseroles, desserts and fixings.
“We delivered door-to-door,” she said. “The people gave us so much love and appreciation. Any little bit you offer, they are so grateful.”
Minneapolis is full of houses that have been moved off their foundations and even split in two from mudslides. “We couldn’t get there on our first trip because it is so remote and it was so heavily damaged,” Ludlum said. “I know I probably say this every time, but this one was a hard one.”
Next up for the group — setting up a toy shop in Black Mountain and Swannanoa. Ludlum said they’re working with social workers at three schools in that area to identify the children who are most in need of a happy Christmas.
They are currently accepting donations of toys, wrapping paper, bows and tape, at the Wallace Fire Department or Duplin Journal office.
“We are really trying to ensure a Christmas for these kids,” Ludlum said.
Though the need is still great in western NC, Ludlum said the areas she and her team have served are all well-stocked on supplies.
“What they need is muscle, tradesmen, people to cook hot meals, people to work in the distribution centers, and they need money,” she said.
KENANSVILLE — The Duplin County Board of Education got good news about the 2023-24 audit at the board’s regular monthly meeting Thursday night, Nov. 7.
“The audit went as planned,” said Adam Shapiro with Anderson, Smith and White, who performed the audit. “We didn’t have any differences of opinion as to any of the financial information here. There were no uncorrected adjustments, nothing we disagreed upon. We were able to conduct all of our procedures.”
Shapiro reported that the total fund balance in the general fund as of June 30, 2024 was $6,387,000, an increase of $12,000 from last year. “With COVID, you received numerous grants and funds, which has allowed you to save money locally by using those funds to address the needs with COVID, the learning loss, even some capital purchases related to air quality,” he explained. “The fund balance of $6,387,000 is probably higher than it’s been in the last 10 years.”
However, it’s important to point out that much of the COVID funds will expire on Jan. 1, 2025, so the school board has had to plan accordingly, gradually increasing its fund balance to help pay for programs that have been funded by COVID funds the past few years.
Board Chairman Brent Davis explained, “We need to take into account, we ended the 2023-24 school year with a $500,000 increase from the county that year. Had we not had that, we would have had to dig into the fund balance. Because of that we came out even. Currently, we have about $1.3 million encumbered of that fund balance for this year. The only reason I say that is sometimes, when you get these fund balance numbers out there in the public, people kind of hinge on this big pot of money that you’re sitting on. But we’re actually going to start chipping into it.”
Other highlights of the audit report include:
A fund balance of $3.5 million in the special revenue fund. This reflects a decrease of $1.1 million from the previous year.
The individual school fund decreased $38,000 to $1.18 million, and the capital outlay fund balance increased $52,000 to $1,011,000.
$6.9 million was collected in what Shapiro called the other special revenue fund. “Your schools generate nearly $2 million in income from athletics, fundraisers, trips,” he explained. “This year, there was almost $2 million received in the capital outlay fund.”
The child nutrition fund’s cash on hand totals $6,151,000, an increase of $15,000 from last year, Shapiro said. Duplin County Schools are “breaking even” on child nutrition, Shapiro explained, due to a rise in food costs, as well as increasing salary and benefits costs.
Shapiro finished up his presentation by saying the school system is “in the best position possible going forward.”
Also at the Nov. 7 meeting, the school board recognized the winners of the Clean School Award, B.F. Grady Elementary and Duplin Early College High School.
Employee of the Quarter Bobby Mobley, director of transportation for DCS, was also honored.
Mobley joined DCS in 2013 as a fuel truck driver and served as a mechanic foreman before securing his current position as director of transportation. “One of Mr. Mobley’s most important responsibilities is managing safe and efficient transportation for students, developing bus routes, monitoring road conditions, recruiting and retaining drivers, which is of utmost importance in these times, staying abreast of vehicle service and repair techniques,” Davis said. “There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, and we cannot thank Mr. Mobley enough for his leadership and dedication. I just want to say that this is an essential part of schools that is sometimes overlooked. Everybody sees the buses going up and down the road, but behind the scenes of what it takes to keep those buses rolling and on the road is amazing.”
After an executive session, the board unanimously approved the 2024-25 school improvement plans. Board member Pam Edwards thanked all the school principals for their hard work on the plans.
Finally, the school board unanimously voted to move the January meeting to Jan. 14.
On Nov. 7, Dylan Alexander Jones was sentenced to 12 years, nine months in prison for trafficking counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl following a fatal overdose in Teachey. After his prison time, Jones will be on supervised release for five years. He must complete 50 hours of community service teaching youth about the dangers of fentanyl and the impact of drug abuse.
“The sentencing of Dylan Jones is a pivotal step in our ongoing fight against the devastating impact of drug overdose deaths. We stand firm in our commitment to justice for the victims and their families,” said Duplin County Sheriff Stratton Stokes. “I want to commend our exceptional team for their relentless dedication and professionalism in building this challenging case. Together, we are making strides toward a safer community.”
According to a media release made by Michael F. Easley Jr. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, the 24-year-old from Wayne County pled guilty to one count of distribution of fentanyl and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in April. The release indicated that on July 22, 2022, Duplin County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive male in Teachey who was then confirmed dead by a firefighter on scene. A post-mortem toxicology report indicated fentanyl toxicity as the cause.
Law enforcement analyzed the victim’s cell phone and found he had received pills from an individual using a Snapchat account linked to Jones. GPS data showed they met at a Warsaw rest area shortly before the victim’s death. Additionally, between September and November 2022, law enforcement made three controlled purchases from Jones, all of which contained fentanyl. During the third buy, Jones was arrested while armed with a handgun. A search of his vehicle uncovered a 9mm pistol loaded with 16 rounds, fentanyl, and over $1,600 in cash.
“We are bringing swift justice against anyone trafficking counterfeit pills laced with deadly fentanyl, especially when their poison claims one of our neighbor’s lives,” stated Easley Jr. “North Carolina’s Sheriffs are prioritizing overdose death investigations like never before and have a direct line to my office to prosecute them. Our team has trained law enforcement across the district on building airtight cases to secure firm sentences in federal court. Our Sheriffs are going the distance to get justice for victims and keep North Carolina safe.”
CHINQUAPIN — Duplin County Sheriff Stratton Stokes confirmed that a 15-year-old was charged with felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty on Tuesday, Nov. 5, for beating a cat to death with a baseball bat near Chinquapin.
Sheriff Stokes told Duplin Journal that a video recorded off of a Snapchat was sent to the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office Monday afternoon showing the teenager beating the cat.
The video which had been circulating on social media was a recording of a Snapchat on someone else’s phone. The video showed a blonde white male wearing an orange ball cap beating a tuxedo cat with a baseball bat, the disturbing video had the tagline “who is the sport on this.”
After reviewing the video, Stokes said they went to the juvenile court council and secured a juvenile detention charge for both felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty.
“The incident happened in Duplin County, it was back toward Lyman road,” said Sheriff Stokes, adding that since the suspect is 15 years old, they cannot release any further information.
When asked about further steps and if the parents will be held responsible for the teen’s behavior he explained that at that point in the investigation they were not looking at the parents at all. He also explained that a judge will decide what happens next and if the juvenile needs any type of treatment. “A lot of times, they will be put on probation,” he explained.
The charges have been turned over to the North Carolina Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency System, which is the agency responsible for handling criminal cases involving juvenile delinquents, and where they will undergo the juvenile justice process instead of the adult criminal court system
The male juvenile is a student at East Duplin High School.
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