Swain man convicted in drug trafficking case
Chad Ray Lequire. File photo
District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch today said a Haywood County jury recently convicted a Bryson City man on seven criminal charges in connection with trafficking in illegal drugs.
Chad Ray Lequire, 43, will spend the next 15 years in state prison. The jury convicted him of trafficking in fentanyl by transportation; trafficking in fentanyl by possession; trafficking in methamphetamine by transportation; trafficking in methamphetamine by possession; conspiracy to traffic fentanyl; conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and resisting arrest.
On Feb. 9, 2021, Deputy Hayden Green stopped a pickup truck on Champion Drive in Canton for various traffic violations. Lequire was a passenger in the vehicle. He was holding an energy-drink can with a screwed in lid instead of a popup tab.
Detective Micah Phillips ordered Lequire to hand him the can. Lequire refused, however, and a struggle ensued. Another officer tased Lequire, but he continued to resist arrest. Green then managed to pull Lequire out of the vehicle and subdue him.
In the can, officers found two plastic bags containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. In Lequire’s right pocket, deputies found two pipes and a syringe; additionally, they discovered scales with drug residue in the vehicle.
The driver, Crystal Bell, 34, of Canton, pleaded guilty Dec. 15, 2022, to trafficking in illegal drugs and is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.
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Superior Court Judge Bradley Letts ordered Lequire to pay state-mandated fines totaling $150,0000.
Assistant district attorneys Jeff Jones and Kate Robinette prosecuted the case.
