A former North Carolina elections official has been indicted after police say he slipped pills into two teenage girls’ ice cream, triggering an investigation that led to arrest and evolving lab results.
James Yokeley Jr., a onetime county elections chair, was indicted on January 20, 2026, in New Hanover County on multiple felony counts, including unlawful distribution of a food or beverage and intentional child abuse involving serious physical injury. Authorities say the case began after two teenage girls found hard objects in their frozen custard and reported the discovery to an officer.
Police say Yokeley flagged down an officer at a Sheetz gas station and told them his granddaughter and her friend had found the objects in their desserts from a Dairy Queen. He told officers someone had tampered with the orders, and medical staff later examined the teens and found no evidence they had ingested any pills.
From WBTV:
A former chair of a county elections board in eastern North Carolina was recently indicted on three new charges after allegedly drugging his granddaughter’s and her friend’s ice cream.
James Yokeley Jr. was additionally charged on Jan. 20 with intentional child abuse – serious physical injury and two counts of unlawful distribution of food or beverage.
Yokeley was arrested in August after reportedly flagging down an officer at a Sheetz gas station in Wilmington. Officers said that Yokeley told them his granddaughter and her friend found hard objects in their ice cream, which was ordered at the Dairy Queen on Oleander Drive.
According to WBTV sister station WECT, the pills tested positive for the psychedelic drug MDMA. The pills also reportedly tested positive for cocaine.
He resigned from his position on the Surry County Board of Public Elections following his arrest.
Surveillance video from the Dairy Queen shows Yokeley walking up to the counter and placing something on it, then slipping pills into both cups while the girls waited in his vehicle. The teens discovered the blue pressed pills in their custards after they received them, and officers later reviewed the footage as part of their investigation. That footage was a key reason police moved forward with an arrest.
Initial field testing reportedly flagged the pills for MDMA and cocaine, prompting strong concern from investigators and the community. Those preliminary results drove early charges and immediate local headlines that raised alarm about intentional tampering with food served to minors.
However, state laboratory testing later identified the substance differently: the pills tested as trazodone, an antidepressant and sleep aid. Because trazodone is not classified as a controlled substance, the state dropped the initial drug distribution charges tied to controlled substances, though the more serious child-abuse count remains part of the indictment.
The FDA explicitly warns that “children younger than 18 years of age should not normally take trazodone.” Medical experts note that even medications not scheduled as controlled substances can be dangerous to adolescents if given without prescription or supervision, which is a central concern in this case.
Yokeley resigned from his seat on the Surry County Board of Public Elections after his arrest, removing him from a public role while criminal proceedings advance. Prosecutors have since presented the case to a grand jury, which returned the indictments in January, and court dates are expected as the matter moves through the system.
Authorities say the investigation began with a report from the teens and moved quickly once surveillance and field tests were examined, but the shift in lab results shows how initial findings can change as more definitive testing comes in. Law enforcement officials maintain that tampering with food for minors is a grave allegation and that the charges now reflect the conduct investigators say they documented.
