Marion Man Guilty Plea Trafficking Fentanyl
Buncombe County -- Press Release: Buncombe County District Attorney's Office On Monday, January 27, 2025, Dustin Ray Norton , 27 of
Marion, pleaded guilty to one count of felony
trafficking in opium/heroin, one count of felony possession of schedule I controlled substance, and one count of felony possession of schedule II controlled substance.
As a result of Norton’s guilty pleas, Judge Alan Thornburg sentenced Norton to serve a mandatory term of imprisonment of 70-93 months in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Corrections and further ordered him to pay a $500,000.00 fine.
On May 8, 2024 Asheville Police Department (APD) officers initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle bearing an illegal fictitious tag. After initiating contact with the driver and passenger, later identified to be Norton, officers saw drug paraphernalia in plain view within the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle found a tested weight of 5.93 grams of fentanyl per the N.C. State Crime Lab. Norton claimed possession of the fentanyl.