ROCKINGHAM — A woman is facing drug charges for allegedly moving meth at the behest of her jailed boyfriend.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, investigators with the Community Impact Team were looking into the distribution of illegal narcotics in the southern end of the county on Sept. 18 when they stopped a vehicle on Old Cheraw Highway.
The press release, issued Sept. 25, does not state the reason for the traffic stop.
The driver, 29-year-old Loren Hailey Radford, of Hamlet, reportedly gave the investigator a fake name. However, the investigator “knew her from previous encounters,” according to the release.
After the investigator told Radford he knew who she was, Radford reportedly gave her information and the information for the vehicle she was driving.
The vehicle was searched and investigators reportedly found 287 grams of meth, digital scales, $321 in cash, as well as “assorted” cellphones and financial cards.
Radford was arrested and charged with: trafficking methamphetamine; possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver methamphetamine; possession of methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia; and giving fictitious or false information to a law enforcement officer.
She was booked into the Richmond County Jail on a $150,000 secured bond. Radford’s charges did not appear in online state court records on Sept. 25. She is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 4.
During the investigation, detectives reportedly learned that Radford was “acting on behalf of her boyfriend,” 44-year-old Joseph Charles Perakis, who was in jail.
Jail records show Perakis had been booked the day before Radford’s arrest on: two counts of communicating threats; a count of assault on a female; a count of assault with a deadly weapon; and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was being held on a combined $75,000 secured bond with court dates of Sept. 25 and 28.
Online court records appear to show several of those charges are from 2022.
Investigators charged Perakis on Sept. 24 with conspiracy to traffick methamphetamine and he was given an additional $100,000 secured bond and an Oct. 5 court date.
Although not mentioned in the release, jail records show Radford was charged Sept. 24 with prison breach and escape from a county facility. She was given an additional $150,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 5 for that charge.
Perakis has several other pending charges from 2022: four counts of possession of a firearm by a felon; one count each of possession of a stolen firearm and carrying a concealed gun.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Radford was first convicted in 2013 of misdemeanor larceny.
Radford was convicted the following year of: felony larceny; delivering or selling a Schedule II controlled substance; and driving while impaired. She received probation on all counts.
Records show show Perakis’ only two felony convictions were in 2001 for maintaining a place for a controlled substance and in 2015 for selling a Schedule VI controlled substance (marijuana).
He has also been twice convicted of driving with a revoked license (2000, 2003); and has been convicted of driving while impaired and resisting an officer (2004), as well as two counts of injury to real property (2014).
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
