A joint investigation by Carrboro Police, Chapel Hill Police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has led to the arrest of six individuals who “engaged in the distribution of heroin and fentanyl.”
Law enforcement officials said in a release Tuesday that a joint investigation came about after an overdose death in Carrboro in June 2018. Investigations into other overdoses in the area “discovered links between the persons ultimately arrested.”
Authorities arrested Robert Ramsey Green II, Mitchell Lucas, Leroy Lunceford, Ryan Meggison, Dylan Mescall and Christopher Tootle between February 14 and 18, according to Tuesday’s release. The individuals were charged with counts related to heroin distribution.
Records show Lucas was arrested on narcotics charges following a traffic stop in late January. Carrboro Police would not offer additional comments on the charges at the time of his January arrest.
“While these arrests may not make the families and friends of those lost to overdoses feel any better, we hope that this joint effort will create some closure and make our community a little bit safer,” Carrboro Police Chief Walter Horton said in the release.
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said these are the first arrests as part of a new program responding to overdoses in the community.
“This is the first time the Sheriff’s Office and the Carrboro Police Department, through the Coordinated Opioid Overdose Response Effort (COORE), have effectively identified, targeted, and disrupted a heroin distribution network based on forensic evidence from both fatal and non-fatal overdoses,” Blackwood said. “This approach has proven to be effective and will continue to be employed. Overdose deaths are taken very seriously by my Office.”
Law enforcement agencies across Orange County have been carrying Naloxone in recent years in an effort to reverse overdoses.
Authorities said Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges are expected.
Anyone with information regarding the investigation is asked to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at (919) 245-2900 or Carrboro Police at (919) 918-7397.
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