Local GOP Elections Chair Accused Of Drugging Granddaughters’ Ice Cream
The GOP chair of a local elections board in North Carolina has been arrested after being accused of putting MDMA and cocaine in his grandchildren’s ice cream.
James Yokeley — a Republican who was selected to chair the Surry County Board of Elections in June — flagged down an officer at a Sheetz convenience store to inform him that his two granddaughters found pills in their Dairy Queen Blizzards, according to the Wilmington Police Department.
After it was determined that the two hadn’t ingested the substances, preliminary field tests indicated that the pills were illegal narcotics, and they were taken to a state lab for further testing.
Video footage showed Yokeley placing the pills in his grandchildren’s frozen treats, per Wilmington Police.
The 66-year-old has been charged with two felony counts of contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance, felony child abuse and felony possession of Schedule I narcotics.
He appeared in court on Wednesday and is not allowed to have contact with the grandchildren involved, according to Wilmington’s NBC affiliate WECT.
The state and Surry County elections boards, in a statement, said they are “aware” of the charges against Yokeley.
“We will continue to collect information about the situation and will provide support to the Surry County board, as needed, to ensure it is able to continue serving the county’s voters,” the statement read.
Prior to his appointment to chair of the Surry County Board of Elections, Yokeley previously ran — and lost — in the Republican primary for a seat on the Surry County school board in 2022.
In 2023, Yokeley was appointed to the Surry County election board to replace a member who was dismissed for attempting to delay the certification of election results, as reported in a 2024 story by Reuters.
Emails obtained by the wire outlet noted that Yokeley “expressed concern about noncitizens casting votes,” a claim pushed by President Donald Trump ahead of last year’s election, and he “pressed the five-member, majority-Democrat board to check citizenship more stringently.”
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