Raleigh Heroin Trafficking Probe: 5 Reportedly Charged

RALEIGH, NC — Five people have been charged in a heroin trafficking investigation after police say an informant purchased heroin from a Raleigh man. Barshiri Ahmad Sandy, 38, of Garner Road in Raleigh was arrested Wednesday and faces several heroin trafficking charges, online court records indicate.

Sandy remained held on a $5 million bond and was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Charges allege that an informant bought drugs from Sandy in December, the News and Observer reported.

James Donald Woods, 31, of Charlotte; Robert Chambers, 40, of Hampton, Virginia, Elijah Barnett, 41, of Wilmington, Delaware, and Kenyon Lamar Oneal, 43, also of Wilmington, Delaware, were also charged. Each faces multiple felony charges, the newspaper reported.

In April 2013, Sandy was hurt in a gunfight between himself and several other men. Their stories differed in that one man, claiming to be the victim, said he shot people robbing him, including Sandy.

Sandy said the man was a drug dealer who failed to deliver marijuana that Sandy and others had bought. When the men confronted the drug dealer about the missing marijuana, he pulled a gun and shot at them. Three men were shot in the altercation.

In November 2014, Sandy was convicted of assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison. But his convictions were thrown out and Sandy was freed in July 2016 when an appeals court found the prosecutor in the case had improperly told police to hold off on arresting the alleged victim on marijuana trafficking charges.

The prosecutor in the case, Colleen Janssen, later resigned and a misconduct investigation was ordered in August 2016.

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