A Granite Falls man will serve seven to 10 years in prison following his conviction for trafficking fentanyl by possession during Caldwell County Superior Court on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
The Honorable Gary Gavenus, Superior Court Judge from Yancey County, imposed terms of the active sentence for Patrick Lowell Wallace after he entered a guilty plea.
Wallace also will be required to pay a mandatory fine of $750,000.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Deputies from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office went to Wallace’s residence to serve a warrant for his arrest on July 15, 2025. As they arrived, the defendant pulled into the driveway.
When he stepped out of his vehicle, a package fell from his lap and was seized by deputies. It contained a trafficking amount of suspected fentanyl. Testing by the State Crime Lab confirmed the substance to be fentanyl.
Phillip James Preston, 42, of Sherrills Ford, was sentenced to serve six to eight years in prison following his conviction for trafficking methamphetamine by possession during Catawba County Superior Court on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
The Honorable Peter Knight, Superior Court Judge from Henderson County, imposed terms of the active sentence after Preston entered a guilty plea.
The defendant also will have to pay a mandatory fine of $50,000.
Preston will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Preston was taken into custody on May 28, 2025, during a traffic stop following an ongoing drug investigation.
A confidential informant made multiple purchases of drugs from the defendant, leading investigators to seek a warrant for his phone. They tracked his location to Charlotte where he made a pickup of illegal substances.
When Preston and his co-defendant returned to Catawba County, the vehicle was stopped. He was in the passenger seat, and deputies noticed a glass pipe on him. A subsequent search led to the seizure of a trafficking amount of methamphetamine, according to testing by the State Crime Lab.
