Rogelia Vega Evans, 26, of Lexington, North Carolina was sentenced to 180 months in prison for engaging in sexual contact with a minor by force in Cherokee, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. 

The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a possible murder in the Panther Creek area of Clyde.  

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced John Allen Wise, 45, of Cashiers, to 121 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for distribution of methamphetamine and illegal possession of firearms, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. 

Two people in unrelated cases pleaded guilty to trafficking charges in Cherokee County, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said. 

A special prosecutor tasked with examining the investigation into a 2022 police shooting that severely injured Jason Harley Kloepfer at his home in Cherokee County has concluded that no criminal charges are warranted against any of the officers involved. 

The holidays are often viewed as an opportunity for families to gather together and share seasonal cheer, but when there’s domestic discord, many seek help from nonprofit legal or social service organizations.

Nearly a decade after 26-year-old Marie Walkingstick Pheasant’s body was found in a burned-out vehicle in Cherokee’s Big Cove community, her husband Ernest Dwayne Pheasant, 46, has been arrested for her murder. 

There’s an old mantra in law enforcement: don’t take credit for the good times unless you’re willing to take equal responsibility for the bad. 

A Whittier man could spend the rest of his life in prison after he allegedly threatened a woman at gunpoint in an attempted kidnapping at the Waterrock Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where he had tracked her using social media. 

Eight people charged in Haywood County with trafficking and possessing illegal drugs are now serving active time in state prison, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said.