ROBBINSVILLE
School faces bomb hoax
Graham County schools were closed Dec. 7, following a prank bomb threat called into the schools telephone hotline. The school system – which includes Robbinsville Elementary, Middle and High schools – sent out an alert that morning advising parents, staff and students about the closures “due to the investigation of a potential safety risk.”
The all-clear was sent out several hours later, putting a jittery school community at ease following school shootings and threats at other schools around the nation, including a threatened school shooting in Cherokee County just the week before.
School in Graham County resumed the next day with counselors available for students and extra security from the school system’s own resource officers reinforced with Graham County sheriff’s deputies.
Around 4:30 a.m. Dec. 7, the Graham County Sheriff’s Office was notified about a threat at Robbinsville High School. The sheriff’s office – along with Graham County Schools officials – evacuated the school and secured the perimeter.
With the help of the Asheville Police Department, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Waynesville Police Department and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office bomb detecting dogs, the Graham County Sheriff’s Office and an agent from the N.C. Department of Insurance searched the schools, but no devices were located.
Murphy High School faced a similar bomb threat two weeks ago that also was revealed to be a hoax.
FRANKLIN
Man guilty in fentanyl case
A Macon County man who carried fentanyl into this state from Georgia is headed to state prison for trafficking the dangerous drug, District Attorney Ashley Welch said.
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Matthew Levan, 37, pleaded guilty in Macon County Superior Court on Dec. 14 to two counts of trafficking in opium or heroin. Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell sentenced Levan to serve a minimum of 180 to a maximum of 240 months in the Division of Adult Corrections.
Additionally, the judge ordered Levan pay a mandatory $200,000 fine. Each count carries a $100,000 monetary punishment.
Intended as pain medicine, fentanyl is a synthetic opium that can prove lethal in small doses. The illicit use of fentanyl is the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Sources told local law enforcement that prior to his arrest, Levan was “most likely” Macon County’s “biggest fentanyl dealer.”
On Sept. 21, 2021, Macon County sheriff’s Deputy Matt Breedlove and K9 Deputy David Blanton stopped a vehicle on U.S. 441 south of Franklin. Levan was the driver. As a result of the arrest, law enforcement seized about 37 grams of fentanyl.
“Since doses as tiny as two milligrams can prove lethal, this was a significant amount of fentanyl that was being shipped into this community,” Welch said. “It is not an overstatement to say Mr. Levan was potentially dealing out death.”
From staff reports.