Member Of Asheville Drug Distribution Ring Is Sentenced To Prison

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Charmaine Vapreece Fair, 32, of Asheville, was sentenced on Thursday, December 11, 2025, to 66 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term, Fair was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

According to records filed in the case, from 2021 to 2023, Fair was part of a drug conspiracy that trafficked methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine in Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania Counties. Zachery Micah Rice, Fair's boyfriend and the major supplier, would obtain the drugs from a supplier in Atlanta and then transport them back to Western North Carolina for further distribution through a local network. During one of Rice's trip, law enforcement stopped and searched Rice's vehicle, seizing over 11.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, a .40 caliber pistol modified to fully automatic, and more than $32,683 in cash. Investigators later executed search warrants at two stashes house, to include Fair's apartment, and a storage unit used by Rice, recovering kilogram quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine, multiple firearms, including high-capacity magazines, ammunition, digital scales, drug paraphernalia used for drug distribution, and more than $27,470. When interviewed, Fair admitted to picking up money for Rice, admitted that she took drugs to certain people, and she would distribute drugs for Rice. Fair confirmed that she distributed prepackaged and weighed drugs to drug customers who would give Fair cash, which Fair would then deposit the money.

Fair pleaded guilty on June 9, 2025, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. She will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

Rice was sentenced last May to more than 28 years in prison. Rice's drug supplier was Les Corey Peak, a Georgia inmate sentenced in November to 20 years in prison.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, the Anderson County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina, the Asheville Police Department, the Waynesville Police Department, the Cherokee Indian Police Department, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office, the Haywood County Sheriff's Office, the Swain County Sheriff's Office, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, the Clay County Sheriff's Office, and the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher S. Hess of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Asheville handled the prosecution.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).