A 24-year-old Asheville man was sentenced Thursday to 135 months in federal prison for leading a fentanyl, methamphetamine, and firearms distribution ring in Buncombe County — a sentence that will stack on top of a separate 10-year prison term he is already serving for violating his federal probation. Sadiq Mafia Devoe Jones was still under federal supervised release for a prior firearm conviction when investigators say he went right back to dealing drugs.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jones was convicted of distributing fentanyl and will serve three years of supervised release once his combined prison terms are complete. U.S. Attorney WDNC, posting about the case on social media, put it bluntly: “Prior felon on federal probation sentenced to prison for distributing fentanyl.” United States Attorney Russ Ferguson, who leads the Western District of North Carolina, said in a statement that “shortly after Jones was released from federal prison he returned to a life of crime and drug dealing. Fentanyl kills, and we are committed to eliminating this deadly drug that ravages communities and destroys families.”
Federal court proceedings show the case began with an undercover investigation launched in August 2025 that identified Jones as the leader of a Buncombe County drug ring. Over the course of that operation, an undercover agent purchased more than 139 grams of fentanyl and 26 grams of methamphetamine from the network, according to the same DOJ account. Investigators also observed Jones using a juvenile to sell fentanyl during at least one transaction — a detail that carries serious legal weight, since federal law imposes enhanced statutory penalties, including doubled maximum sentences and mandatory minimum terms, on adults who involve minors in drug distribution schemes, per the Justice Department.
A November Raid Turned Up Guns and Crack Cocaine
Jones's arrest didn't come out of nowhere. In November 2025, Asheville Police and federal partners arrested him alongside three other individuals in a joint operation that recovered 26.91 grams of crack cocaine and seven firearms, according to the Asheville Police Department. Among the weapons seized were an AK-47 and a Glock pistol fitted with an illegal machinegun conversion switch, a device that turns a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hess of the Asheville office prosecuted the case, which stemmed from a joint investigation involving the ATF Charlotte Field Division, the DEA Atlanta Division, the Asheville Police Department, and the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, the Justice Department said. That kind of interagency coordination has become a hallmark of federal drug cases coming out of Western North Carolina in recent months, including other Hess-prosecuted cases such as a Morganton meth dealer's 14-year sentence handed down earlier this month.
Case Falls Under a Broader Federal Crackdown
The prosecution was carried out under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative launched in early 2025 that coordinates resources from Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods to target drug networks, illegal weapons, and violent crime, according to the DOJ. Jones's case is one of several recent Western District of North Carolina prosecutions tied to that effort, following sentencings for a Charlotte cartel courier caught with 130,000 fentanyl pills and a Charlotte fentanyl duo now awaiting deportation.
The case also lands against the backdrop of a severe local public health crisis. North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner toxicology data published in May ranked Buncombe County sixth in the state for fentanyl-positive death rates, recording 22.9 deaths per 100,000 residents for the 12-month period ending in March. Statewide, provisional data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 2,731 North Carolinians died from suspected drug overdoses in 2025 — an average of eight people per day — following 2,780 overdose deaths statewide in 2024.
County Funding Aimed at Response and Recovery
Buncombe County has been allocated more than $30 million from national opioid litigation settlement funds spanning 2022 through 2039, according to Buncombe County Government. The county's fiscal year 2026 budget designates $3.21 million for core services including post-overdose response teams, reentry programs, and harm-reduction outreach.
Jones's total effective prison time now spans more than two decades once his consecutive federal sentences are combined — the 135-month fentanyl sentence layered on top of the 10-year term for violating the conditions of his earlier supervised release. He will begin serving three years of supervised release only after both prison terms are served in full.
.jpg){kind=link}