North Carolina U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson of the Western District of North Carolina announced on June 18, 2025, that two members of a drug trafficking conspiracy that trafficked methamphetamine and fentanyl in Catawba County and the surrounding areas have been sentenced to federal prison.
32-year-old Ashton Durrell Farley of Hickory, North Carolina, received a sentence of 235 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
Lenoir, North Carolina resident Thomas Eugene Ikard, 46, was sentenced to 60 months in jail and four years of supervised release. The two males entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Sheriff Donald G. Brown II of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Reed Baer of the Hickory Police Department, and Alicia Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, join U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
Two further co-conspirators had already received sentences. Charlotte resident Dustin Eric Wilson, 35, received a sentence of five years of supervised release and ten years in jail.
Hickory resident Harold Marquis Wilfong, 37, was sentenced to 84 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
The accusations came after a 10-month investigation by the Hickory Police Department and ATF, according to court documents and procedures.
A drug trafficking network was discovered throughout the inquiry, which used many stash homes, including one that was only two blocks from the federal courtroom in Charlotte, to store and distribute firearms and drugs.
As part of the investigation, authorities carried out surveillance, issued search warrants, and made controlled narcotics purchases.
Along with many firearms, including an AR-15 rifle and a ghost gun or privately manufactured firearm, law enforcement also seized several kilograms of marijuana, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson made the statement, thanking the U.S. Marshals Service for their support and praising the ATF, HPD, and Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.
The case is a part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice nationwide effort that involves the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) working together to eradicate violent crime, transnational criminal organizations, and cartels.
