NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Late last month, the assistant district attorney of New Hanover County filed a dismissal for three charges against a man accused of putting drugs in his step-granddaughter and her friend’s ice cream.
James Edwin Yokeley Jr. was arrested in August by Wilmington police and charged with two counts of contamination of food or drink with a controlled substance, felony possession of schedule I narcotics and felony child abuse.
Wilmington Police Department obtained video of Yokeley putting blue pills in the 16-year-old and 15-year-old’s Dairy Queen Blizzards, according to its investigation. An onsite analysis indicated the potential of MDMA and cocaine in the pills, which were sent off to a lab for further testing. However, the Dec. 22 dismissal of charges indicates the lab found the pills didn’t have a controlled substance under North Carolina law.
ADA Lance Oehrlein signed off on dismissing both counts of contaminating food and drink with a controlled substance and felony possession of a controlled substance due to insufficient evidence. Yokeley still faces felony child abuse.
The 66-year-old suspect, who served on the Surry County Board of Elections but resigned after his arrest, has maintained his innocence. He stated in a letter sent to the board of elections in August that he was “prayerfully confident” he would be exonerated, as the case’s “truth and facts” came to light.
The case began in early August, after a Wilmington police officer was flagged down at the Sheetz gas station at 2517 Shipyard Blvd. WPD noted in a press release following the incident that an officer was informed the juveniles found two pills — one in each of their frozen desserts. Neither girl ingested the substances and the Department of Health and Human Services were called in per protocol.
A field test was conducted on the drugs, which remained “presumptive in nature” rather than conclusive, WPD Lt. Greg Willett said in a press conference held about the case last year. While arrest records indicated MDMA and cocaine were present, field tests only point to potential chemical compound makeups, he further explained, but were enough to warrant an arrest.
Willett detailed how video surveillance obtained at the Dairy Queen on Oleander Drive showed Yokeley put something on a counter and then attempted to conceal his behavior.
“It’s pretty apparent when the employees are making the drinks, he is observing whether someone is observing him,” Willett said at the time. “That’s when the items were placed in the Blizzards.”
On Aug. 26, police served Yokeley the arrest warrant and took him into custody to the New Hanover County Detention Center. He made a $100,000 secured bond that day and was issued a no-contact order.
However, Yokeley was back in court in November after allegedly attempting to contact his step-granddaughter, according to reporting from WHQR.
As a result, ADA Oherlein asked Judge Robin Robinson to double his bond and put Yokeley under electronic monitoring and maintain no contact as part of his pre-trial release; the former was denied but the latter accepted.
The disposition hearing for the remaining child abuse charge is scheduled for April 2, according to court documents.
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