The head of the Surry County Board of Elections resigned the position days after news of his arrest on a charge of felony child abuse and about an hour before the State Board’s emergency meeting to talk about him. Wilmington Police said James Yokeley Jr. flagged down police on Aug. 8 outside a gas station and told them that his two young granddaughters found hard objects in their Dairy Queen ice cream.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections confirmed that James Yokeley Jr. resigned as chair of the Surry County Board of Elections after authorities said he was accused of putting illegal drugs in his granddaughters' ice cream. The Wilmington Police Department said Yokeley, 66, was charged with contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance and felony child abuse.
An election official in North Carolina arrested and accused of placing narcotics in his grandchildren’s ice cream resigned Thursday. Surry County Board of Elections Chair James Edwin Yokeley Jr., a Republican, informed Wilmington police on Aug. 8 that his granddaughters had found suspicious blue pills in their Dairy Queen Blizzards, but police said they reviewed video showing him placing the pills in the ice cream, which tests revealed contained MDMA and cocaine, according to a police report obtained by USA Today.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The Wilmington Police Department (WPD) answered questions and clarified information about the recent arrest of a man who allegedly drugged the ice cream of two teens. James Yokeley Jr. allegedly put pills containing narcotics in his 16-year-old step-granddaughter’s and her 15-year-old friend’s Dairy Queen blizzards. Yokeley is the former Chair of the Surry County Board of Elections, but also has a residence in New Hanover County. According to WPD, on Aug. 3, the two teens discovered the pills in their ice cream while in the car with Yokeley. The teen who was driving pulled into a Sheetz parking lot, where they located paramedics.
