Harnett County: Spring Lake man charged after ALE says it seized 15,400 lethal fentanyl doses

In Spring Lake, Alcohol Law Enforcement special agents arrested Christopher William Johnston on Thursday after a month-long fentanyl investigation, according to a Friday release from the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

Johnston is 34 and lives there. The Harnett County Sheriff's Office helped with the arrest.

ALE wrote that undercover agents took more than 30 grams of fentanyl from him, a figure the release equated to about 15,400 lethal doses. WITN, using that account and court records, also used the 15,400 figure.

The release said each undercover purchase happened at ABC-licensed businesses in Spring Lake. It also named the Anderson Creek community in Harnett County as part of the work.

On Oct. 22, agents served a search warrant at a home on North Peggy Street. They reported finding cocaine, opioids, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana and more than $12,000 in cash.

The department said Johnston tried to run over several officers while fleeing and that one agent had minor injuries. WITN, citing court records, added that the vehicle was a BMW.

He was taken to the county jail in Lillington. Friday's state account said he was held with no bond. WITN later wrote that he received a $500,000 secured bond and is due in court Nov. 10. A sheriff current-confinement list fetched Friday evening did not include his name. This file does not treat the bond as settled.

A charge is an accusation. Being charged does not mean a person is guilty. Johnston is presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty in court. We have not found a public statement from him or from a lawyer for him.

The counts

The Friday release listed 10 felony fentanyl-trafficking counts; two conspiracy counts; two counts of keeping a vehicle for a controlled substance; assault causing physical injury to an officer; opium trafficking; possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine; felony possession of a Schedule I substance; two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer; injury to personal property; drug paraphernalia; and marijuana.

WITN's court-records list matched most of those counts. It described the cocaine count as simple possession, not the intent-to-sell wording, and described the two deadly-weapon counts without naming an officer.

The second charging

Agents also charged his brother, Nicholas Jacob Johnston, 36, of Spring Lake. The release listed three felony trafficking in fentanyl counts, one felony conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He had not been arrested when that account was posted. WITN reported the same.

The same presumption applies to him.

G.S. 90-95(h)(4c) makes trafficking in fentanyl a felony when the amount is four grams or more. A jury has not decided either accusation.

We looked for a separate sheriff news release. The office's felony-arrest page still listed 2024 dates when checked Friday.

What we don't know yet

Whether a magistrate later set a bond, and whether Johnston is still in custody, have not been settled by a roster we can read. Whether Nicholas Johnston has been arrested, and which ABC businesses were used for the undercover buys, have not been posted.

Timeline

• Thursday, Oct. 22: ALE, with sheriff's deputies, arrests Johnston and searches that Spring Lake house, the Friday release said.
• Friday, Oct. 23: N.C. DPS posts the charging account. WITN reports the same seizure figure and, from court records, a BMW and a $500,000 bond.

What happens next

This story is not an official or emergency notice. If someone is in danger, call 911.

Sheriff non-emergency is 910-893-9111. The office lists a tip line at 910-893-0300.

Photos

Text-only. The state page used a sheriff booking photograph. This file does not include that image.