Traffic stop on Blue Ridge Parkway exposes narcotics operation, NC sheriff says
A traffic stop on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway revealed the driver was hauling methamphetamine, fentanyl and guns, according to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.
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The stop was made Aug. 14 in Alleghany County, as part of an investigation by the Blue Ridge Counter Narcotics Task Force, state officials said in an Aug. 17 news release.
Court documents report the driver, 36-year-old Darrell Payne, sold 35 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover officer. Payne lives in the Sparta area of Alleghany County, officials said.
Investigators did not release details of what prompted a traffic stop on federal land managed by the National Park Service.
Payne has been charged with:
Payne is being held under a $750,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 25, officials said.
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His criminal record includes pleading guilty in 2021 to felony possession with intent to sell Schedule II narcotics, which resulted in a prison sentence of two years and nine months, court documents say.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a remote 469-mile highway that traverses the “rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands” in western North Carolina and Virginia. It is managed by the National Park Service. The parkway passes through Alleghany County near the Virginia state line.
The Blue Ridge Counter Narcotics Task Force includes the Ashe County Sheriffs Office, Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police Department, North Wilkesboro Police Department, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, officials said.
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Alleghany County is about a 100-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte.
