More than 130 people face drug charges in investigations of NC Cherokee reservation
Federal authorities arrested 76 people and seized opioid drugs valued at more than $1 million during a raid of a Cherokee reservation in western North Carolina, officials said Thursday.
A seven-month investigation targeted drug trafficking on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Qualla Boundary reservation, according to a news release from Ryan Zinke, U.S. Secretary of Interior, and Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Those arrested face federal, state and tribal charges, the news release said.
The undercover operation involved federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Cherokee Police Department. It began in March, with the goal of disrupting and dismantling drug distribution networks operating in and around the Qualla Boundary.
A separate, two-year investigation spearheaded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Division of Drug Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration led to the arrests of 56 additional people. They were charged with trafficking opiates and methamphetamine in the tribal region, bringing the total number of those arrested to 132.
So far, the two investigations have yielded a seizure of more than 3.8 pounds of heroin and fentanyl; more than 18 pounds of methamphetamine; more than 270 fentanyl and Oxycodone tablets; and more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.
The drugs have a combined street value of over $1.82 million.
Authorities also seized five illegally possessed firearms.
“The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a community that has been hard hit by the opioid epidemic. Drug distribution, drug-fueled crimes, and drug abuse pose a grave threat to the safety, stability, cultural preservation, and well-being of the tribal community,” Murray said in the news release.
Those concerns were echoed by Richard Sneed, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
“I am extremely grateful to the Secretary of the Interior, the BIA and the multiple state and local agencies who helped make this operation a success,” Sneed said in the release. “The arrest of these drug dealers is a critical step towards ensuring that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is able to provide the healthy environment our people deserve.”
Authorities made public the names of 12 people who were arrested on federal drug charges:
▪ Dontavius Juan Cox, 26, of Sylva
▪ Derek Wilson Driver, 26, of Cherokee
▪ David Charles Fisher, 56, of Bryson City
▪ Timothy Mark Grady, 43, Bryson City
▪ Kandace Rhean Griffin, 29, of Cherokee
▪ Kenneth Dean Griffin, 51, Cherokee
▪ Kevin Dewayne Huskey, 47, of Bryson City
▪ Saryna Michelle Miller, 22, of Bryson City
▪ Jeremy Dwayne Morton, 21, of Bryson City
▪ Javier Fernando Perez, 27, of Norcross, Ga.
▪ David William Smith, 30, of Sylva
▪ Dee Anna Wike, 45, of Cherokee.
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 12:45 PM.