Many questions were raised this week after WPD released information on the arrest of 66-year-old James Edwin Yokeley Jr., who is suspected of drugging two female minors.
Yokeley served as a Republican member of the Surry County Board of Elections since July 2023, and was appointed chair of the Board by Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek in July of this year. Boliek called for Yokeley’s resignation on Thursday after multiple outlets picked up the story. Yokeley stepped down that same day.
Though Yokely held office in a county near Winston-Salem, he owned a residence in New Hanover County.
WPD held a press conference Friday morning to clarify more details of the investigation.
In the initial report, WPD stated the two juveniles involved were Yokeley’s granddaughters. WPD spokesperson Lieutenant Greg Willett clarified that one of the girls was his step-granddaughter and the other minor involved was her friend, they are ages 16 and 15, respectively.
Willett issued another correction, stating the incident occurred on August 3, instead of August 8, which was stated in the original press release.
Further details revealed that Yokeley and the young ladies involved went to a Dairy Queen that night, close to the business’s closing time. Willett said the 16-year-old step-granddaughter was driving the vehicle after leaving the ice cream shop.
Not long after, the two girls found blue pressed pills in their ice cream. Willett said due to “concern, fear, and panic,” the step-granddaughter pulled into a nearby Sheetz gas station when she spotted an EMS vehicle and alerted paramedics of the situation on the spot.
When officers arrived and conducted a preliminary street test, the results came back positive for MDMA and cocaine. WPD Detective Kevin Tully said the test is not conclusive and that they’ll have a more conclusive reading after lab test results come in from the local crime lab run by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. Willet said they expected those results in about a month.
“There's no question, you know, we're talking about drugs here,” Willett said. “It's just getting to the point where it's isolated, identifying exactly what drugs are there — that's in progress right now with the lab.”
WPD will not release the video footage prior to adjudication, but they are certain the footage shows Yokeley “placing something on the counter,” and while no one was looking he slipped the pills into the girls’ Blizzards — cups of frozen custard, which is often mixed with various confectioneries and eaten with a spoon.
Tully said the girls remained in the car, while Yokeley was at the counter purchasing the ice cream. According to the officers’ first impressions of the case, the girls did not initially suspect Yokeley was the person who may have dropped the pills into their cups.
WPD officers did not say whether or not the young ladies expressed witnessing similar concerning behavior from the 66-year-old former BOE Chair in the past.
“What I've been told is that the girls were very upset. They were very upset, very concerned, panicked,” Willett said.
Yokeley was arrested on Tuesday and charged with contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance, felony child abuse, and felony possession of schedule I narcotics.
Yokeley was placed under a $100,000 secured bond, which he posted the day of his arrest, and has since had his first appearance at the New Hanover County Courthouse.
Willett said the next steps in this case are “looking into any aspect that could branch off of this investigation, any kind of behaviors that we can discover that led up to this incident, and during the incident.”
They’ll also be waiting on the results of the drug tests in the meantime.
“There's a lot of loose ends,” Willett said. “We tie up a lot of post interviews or additional interviews that are conducted. Nothing that will really change where we're already at.”
As for the step-granddaughter and her friend, WPD said they are safe. WPD said they’ll be working with their partners at the Department of Social Services to ensure their well-being.
