Asheville Man Sentenced in Drug Trafficking Case

Asheville -- Buncombe County DA Todd Willims Office Press Release

Wednesday, February 22, 2024, Harold Gene Roberts, 48 of Asheville, was sentenced after pleading guilty to multiple felony opium/fentanyl trafficking charges and other related felony drug charges. As a result, Superior Court Judge Alan Thornburg sentenced Roberts to serve an active term of 70-93 months in the custody of the N.C. Division of Adult Corrections and pay a $50,000 fine.

On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, after investigating reports of illicit drug activity on Buckeye Access Road in Swannanoa, Asheville Police Department officers working in an undercover capacity made contact with Roberts via cellphone over a recorded line. Roberts spoke openly about the purchase of $1,600 worth of oxycodone pills. In exchange for $1,600 in cash, Roberts later gave undercover officers a paper package containing small pills consistent in size and color to Percocet 30s. The N.C. State Crime Lab examined the pills finding 5.6 grams of schedule II oxycodone.

On Thursday, May 28, 2020 detectives with the Asheville Police Department, agents with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations, and detectives with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office obtained and executed a search warrant on Buckeye Access Road in Swannanoa. During the search, investigators seized 400 oxycodone pills, 15 hydrocodone pills, 25 sublingual pills (2 of which were broken in half), 1 suboxone pill, and 10 THC vape cartridges. The N.C. State Crime Lab later examined the substances finding over 40 grams of schedule II oxycodone and over 6 grams of schedule II hydrocodone.

Image Credit: WNCTimes