Staff Reports
Hayesville – Clay County sheriff’s Lt. Tyler Faggard, a drug enforcement agency task force officer, was working on a highway interdiction operation at 6 p.m. March 1.
Faggard stopped a blue Kia at the Shooting Creek Market on U.S. 64 East. The driver was identified as Breslin Drake Allen, 29, of Murphy. The sole passenger in the front seat was identified as Brandon Michael Pickens, 40, of Asheville, according to Clay County Sheriff Mark Buchanan.
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After contacting the occupants of the Kia, Faggard immediately noted a strong odor of marijuana. Faggard also noted Pickens’ pants were down to his knees, which was indicative of a person attempting to hide illegal drugs.
Pickens was removed from the Kia and detained without incident. Clay County Investigators Nick Queen and Steven Smith, as well as Sgt. Kyle Lickteig, quickly arrived at the scene to assist Faggard.
A probable cause search of the Kia yielded a black bag containing a large amount of controlled substances from the passenger floorboard, where Pickens had been sitting. A Cashapp card with the name Brandon Pickens was found within the black bag.
Due to the physical location that the black bag was found and the Cashapp card with Pickens’ name, the evidence that these items belonged to Pickens was overwhelming. As a result, Allen was not arrested. Pickens, however, was arrested and taken to the Clay County Detention Center.
A thorough search and inventory of the contents of the black bag yielded the following substances that field tested positive as:
- Nine clear baggies containing about 504 grams of fentanyl.
- Two clear baggies containing about 54 grams of cocaine.
- Two clear baggies containing about 17 grams of methamphetamine.
- One clear baggy containing about 13 grams of cathinone.
Pickens was charged with the following and given a $2 million secured bond:
- Trafficking in opium (fentanyl) or heroin by possession.
- Trafficking in opium (fentanyl) or heroin by transportation.
- Trafficking in opium (fentanyl) or heroin by manufacturing.
- Trafficking in cocaine by possession.
- Trafficking in cocaine by transportation.
- Trafficking in cocaine by manufacturing.
- Felony maintaining a vehicle for drugs.
- Felony possession of a schedule I controlled substance (cathinone).
- Possession with intent to sell a schedule I controlled substance.
- Possession with intent to sell methamphetamine.
- Possession with intent to manufacture methamphetamine.
- Possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine.
The significance of any charge of “trafficking” of a controlled substance is that a guilty verdict in the State of North Carolina carries mandatory prison sentences. The more dangerous a drug is, the less there needs to be present for a person to be charged with trafficking.
For trafficking charges, there are three levels of seriousness depending on the amount of drugs present. For cocaine and methamphetamine, these levels are from 28-200 grams, 200-400 grams and more than 400 grams.
For fentanyl, trafficking levels are from 4-14 grams, 14-28 grams and more than 28 grams. To put this in perspective, and to illustrate just how dangerous North Carolina considers fentanyl to be, 4 grams of fentanyl in the corner of a clear baggy is just a little bigger than a marble. The fentanyl seized during this investigation totaled 504 grams or 1.11 pounds, many times the amount needed to reach the highest level of trafficking that drug.
“This was a very significant arrest that could well have saved many lives from the fentanyl overdoses that have been plaguing our country for several years. To my knowledge, this is the largest seizure of an opium/heroin class drug in the history of Clay County,” Buchanan said.