Surry County Elections Board Chairman James Yokeley was arrested on felony child endangerment charges. Photo courtesy of the Wilmington (N.C.) Police Department
Aug. 28 (UPI) — The chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections in North Carolina resigned Thursday after police arrested him on suspicion of putting drugs in his granddaughters’ ice cream.
In a news release issued Wednesday, the Wilmington Police Department said officers arrested James Yokeley after an investigation into an incident Aug. 8.
The release said earlier this month, Yokeley flagged down patrol officers outside a gas station to alert them that his two minor granddaughters found two hard objects in ice cream they had just purchased at a nearby Dairy Queen. Field tests determined the objects were illegal narcotics.
Medical professionals evaluated the two girls and determined neither had ingested any substances.
Detectives reviewed security video from the Dairy Queen, which allegedly showed Yokeley putting the pills in the ice cream. Police arrested him Tuesday, charging him with felony child abuse, contaminating food with a controlled substance and possession of a Schedule I narcotic.
He was jailed at the New Hanover County Detention Center and released on $100,000 bond.
County Auditor Dave Boliek called for Yokeley’s resignation from the board of elections Thursday, according to WITN-TV in Greenville, N.C. Yokeley sent his resignation letter to Boliek, who appointed him to the position earlier this summer.
“Based on the truth and facts, I remain prayerfully confident that I will be exonerated of all accusations levied against me,” Yokeley said in the letter.