Law enforcement officials from four agencies gathered in Graham this week to announce a breakthrough in a collaborative effort to shut down the pipeline that has funneled narcotics into area schools.
In a joint news conference on Wednesday, Alamance County’s sheriff Terry Johnson recalled that his own agency began to pursue the people supplying these drugs after an area high school student suffered a near fatal overdose in 2024. Along the way, Johnson said that his deputies traced the flow of narcotics back to a criminal street gang dubbed “70 East,” whose tentacles had also extended into Orange and Caswell counties.
Johnson added that his own office has teamed up with its counterparts in these two other counties to pursue this gang to its various haunts. He added that their mutual labors have led to the searches of four dwellings in three different counties and the arrests of six individuals for the sale and possession of drugs ranging from psylocibin to pot. Court records indicate that all six of these suspects were taken into custody on January 12.
“The criminals don’t give a flip about county lines. We’re catching a lot of stuff coming into Alamance County that normally, possibly, wouldn’t be here, and it’s because of working together that this was uncovered.”
– Alamance County sheriff Terry Johnson
Johnson went on to stress that his own office’s success in this case has only been possible because he and his fellow agency heads had set aside their territorial concerns in order to defang a criminal organization without any regard for jurisdictional limits.
“The criminals don’t give a flip about county lines,” he added. “We’re catching a lot of stuff coming into Alamance County that normally, possibly, wouldn’t be here, and it’s because of working together that this was uncovered.”
Johnson acknowledged that a prior commitment had prevented Orange County’s sheriff Charles Blackwood from attending Wednesday’s news conference. He was nevertheless joined at the podium by Caswell County’s sheriff Tony Durden as well as Burlington’s police chief Alan Balog and Jason Walsh, the resident agent in charge of the ATF’s local office.
When he got his turn at the microphone, Walsh echoed Johnson’s assertions about the collaborative nature of this operation.
“Like the sheriff said, jurisdictional lines don’t matter. So, we meet on a daily basis to make sure we are chasing and following these crimes wherever they go.”
– Jason Walsh, resident agent in charge, ATF
“Like the sheriff said, jurisdictional lines don’t matter,” he said. “So, we meet on a daily basis to make sure we are chasing and following these crimes wherever they go.”
Meanwhile, Balog, whose jurisdiction was home to two of the aforementioned searches, emphasized that the whole point of this joint operation has been to clamp down on the flow of illegal drugs to area schools.
“We recognize that this activity around marijuana vapes and THC vapes has been, and remains, a problem in our schools. We see the overlap here with criminal street gangs, and the overlap with firearms and with people who have a history of using firearms. . . We are consistently united in law enforcement to make sure we are targeting this danger to the community.”
– Burlington police chief Alan Balog
“We recognize that this activity around marijuana vapes and THC vapes has been, and remains, a problem in our schools,” he said. “We see the overlap here with criminal street gangs, and the overlap with firearms and with people who have a history of using firearms. . . We are consistently united in law enforcement to make sure we are targeting this danger to the community.”
The office of Alamance County’s sheriff went on to share a few details about the four searches that occurred during the course of this joint operation.
One raid took place in Orange County along the 3500 block of Forrest Street in Efland. A search of these premises reportedly netted 175 grams of marijuana and 13 ounces of THC wax as well as a cell phone and some scales that had presumably been put to illegal use.
Another search in Caswell County zeroed in on the 1300 block of Zeb Road – a location that has a Gibsonville address. According to the office of Alamance County’s sheriff, officers found 6 pounds 11.9 ounces of psylocibin edibles at this site, along with 46 grams of marijuana, .01 grams of cocaine, and a cell phone that was presumably used for illegal activity.
Meanwhile in Alamance County, law enforcement officials raided a home along the 2800 block of Maple Avenue in Burlington, from where they retrieved 21.89 grams of marijuana, three cell phones, a computer tablet, and a set of scales.
According to the office of Alamance County’s sheriff, the fourth search resulted from a traffic stop that reportedly netted 42.72 grams of cocaine, 74.52 grams of marijuana, 952 grams of THC wax, various marijuana paraphernalia, and three cell phones. In light of these finds, law enforcement raided a home along the 1600 block of Lower Hopedale Road in Burlington, where they discovered 30.4 grams of marijuana, some cocaine residue, $706 in cash, a set of scales, and a Glock 17 9 mm handgun.
According to the sheriff’s office, these raids have led to the arrest of the following six suspects:
- Jennifer Lynn Baker, a 24-year-old white female, whose home address court records place at 505 Apple Street in Burlington. According to the office of Alamance County’s sheriff, the search in Caswell County has led to charges against Baker for possession with the intent to sell or deliver both a Schedule I and a Schedule VI controlled substance, cocaine possession, and the maintenance of a dwelling for the storage of a controlled substance.
Baker also faces charges in Alamance County for conspiracy to deliver marijuana and a Schedule VI controlled substance;
- Kentrel Deangelo Jordan Faucette, a 32-year-old black male of 2864 Maple Avenue in Burlington. Faucette faces charges for marijuana possession with the intent to sell or deliver the drug and the possession of drug paraphernalia;
- Ian Keanu Johnson, a 21-year-old black male of 438 Dudley Street in Burlington. Johnson faces charges for marijuana possession with the intent to sell or deliver the drug and the possession of drug paraphernalia;
- Ernesto Santoyo-Garcia, Jr. a 40-year-old Hispanic male from 1619 Lower Hopedale Road in Burlington. Santoya-Garcia faces two counts of cocaine trafficking as well as the felony-level possession of both marijuana and a Schedule VI controlled substance, possession with the intent to sell or deliver a Schedule VI controlled substance, and the possession of drug paraphernalia;
- Tabitha Renee Santoyo-Garcia, a 38-year-old white female of 1619 Lower Hopedale Road in Burlington. She has been charged with possession with the intent to sell or deliver both marijuana and a Schedule VI controlled substance, two counts of conspiracy to deliver marijuana, the possession of drug paraphernalia, and the maintenance of a dwelling for the storage of a controlled substance;
- Leopoldo Adrian Vargas, a 27-year-old Hispanic male of 3515 Forrest Street in Efland. Vargas has been charged with possession with the intent to sell or deliver both marijuana and a Schedule VI controlled substance, two counts of conspiracy to deliver marijuana, the possession of drug paraphernalia, and the maintenance of a dwelling for the storage of a controlled substance.
