State adjusts charges against county elections official accused of drugging girls' ice cream
Prosecutors have adjusted felony charges against a North Carolina county elections official accused of putting drugs in ice cream intended for his step-granddaughter and a friend. The decision follows new lab testing in the case.
James Yokeley, who resigned from the Surry County Board of Elections in August after he was initially charged in the case, now faces two possible counts of felony “unlawful distribution of food or beverage” and one count of felony child abuse.
Prosecutors initially charged Yokeley in August with child abuse, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of contaminating food with a controlled substance. Police in Wilmington had arrested Yokeley on allegations that he had put pills in ice cream purchased for his 16-year-old step-granddaughter and her 15-year-old friend. The pills, police said at the time, tested positive for MDMA and cocaine, which are controlled substances.
The drug charges were dropped last month after lab testing determined that the drugs alleged to have been found in the ice cream weren’t controlled substances under state law, court records show.
https://www.wral.com/news/state/state-adjusts-charges-surry-county-elections-official-drugging-girls-ice-cream-january-2026/