Child found holding bag of fentanyl in car belonging to accused dealer in NC, feds say

When a couple suspected of dealing drugs was pulled over in North Carolina, detectives spotted a child in the backseat holding a bag of fentanyl, federal prosecutors said.

A handgun was also sitting in Jania Delicia Leggett’s lap when detectives stopped her and her significant other in October 2020 in Lumberton, a city about 90 miles south of Raleigh, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Now she is going to prison.

A judge sentenced Leggett, 28, of Robeson County, to 25 years in federal prison in connection with conspiring to distribute at least 400 grams, or 14.11 ounces, of fentanyl and for possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, the office announced in a Dec. 22 news release.

McClatchy News contacted Leggett’s attorney for comment on Dec. 22 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Fentanyl is an opioid that’s substantially more powerful than the pain relieving narcotic morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Overdosing on the substance can prove to be deadly.

The man identified as Leggett’s significant other, Clarence Graham, is also facing charges in the case and has a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 17., court records show.

McClatchy News contacted Graham’s attorney for comment and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Couple accused of selling drugs out of a hotel

Initially, prosecutors said Leggett “ran a house” in Lumberton, which was described as her hub for selling fentanyl.

Witnesses told investigators that they had seen small children and weapons, which appeared to be AR-15 style rifles, inside the home, according to officials.

For six months, between April through September 2020, Leggett had distributed more than 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl, prosecutors said.

The next month, Leggett and Graham started selling fentanyl from an unspecified hotel in Lumberton, according to the release.

On Oct. 13, while they were driving away from the hotel and under investigation, Lumberton Police Department detectives pulled the pair over, officials said.

This is when the child was found in the car’s back seat holding fentanyl inside a bag, according to prosecutors. It wasn’t specified whether the child was Leggett’s or Graham’s.

In the car, the couple had nearly $13,000 in cash that was seized by law enforcement, an indictment states.

The same day, detectives searched a storage unit belonging to Graham and found more money, about $33,600, which was seized, according to the indictment.

In addition to the handgun found in Leggett’s lap, detectives also found another handgun in her purse, prosecutors said.

“(Leggett) was not only trafficking a deadly drug but doing so with children and assault weapons in close proximity – even allowing a small child to handle fentanyl,” U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said in a statement.

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