An Orange County resident faces a litany of trafficking and distribution charges after a sheriff’s office investigation and seizure of illegal drugs.

A release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said authorities in Mebane arrested 35-year-old James Lorenzo Little on Thursday morning, following a months-long investigation into his activity and approval of more than a dozen warrants.

According to the sheriff’s office, investigators learn of Little earlier in 2024 while investigating an unrelated case and began to develop probable cause that he was selling drugs from his residence at Ello Drive — a residential road outside of Hillsborough town limits in western Orange County. On July 3, Orange County and Alamance County sheriff’s office investigators executed a search warrant at the property and seized “trafficking quantities” of cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy, suspected fentanyl, and prescription pills. During the search, additional items related to “the sale and distribution of narcotics” were found, alongside a firearm and a stolen motor vehicle that authorities seized.

With his arrest in Mebane, Little now faces the following charges brought by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation:

  • Two counts of Trafficking Opium or Heroin
  • Trafficking in Cocaine
  • Trafficking in Methamphetamine
  • Trafficking in MDMA
  • Possession of a Firearm by Felon
  • PWISD Cocaine
  • PWISD Methamphetamine
  • PWISD MDMA
  • Two counts of PWISD Schedule II Controlled Substance
  • PWISD Marijuana
  • Maintaining a Dwelling for a Controlled Substance
  • Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle

Additionally, Alamance County investigators levied their own charges against Little: felony possession of a controlled substance on jail premises and felony possession of cocaine. Little made his first appearance on the charges in Alamance County court on Thursday afternoon and is being held without bond under the Pretrial Integrity Act, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Little faced significant charges in the past due to his connection with a murder in Fayetteville. He was arrested and imprisoned on first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy charges in 2018 alongside other suspects after the shooting of 21-year-old Shyheim Melvin.

 

Featured photo via the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

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