West Asheville arrests lead to seizure of more than 100 grams fentanyl

More than 100 grams of fentanyl came off West Asheville streets in two Asheville Police Department arrests, a haul that equals roughly 50,000 two-milligram amounts, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s benchmark for a potentially lethal dose.

APD said Brandon Lloyd Cox, 44, was contacted on Granada Street around 5:17 p.m. April 17 after officers saw him attempting to sell narcotics. He was arrested on a selling narcotics charge, and police said he was found with a trafficking amount of fentanyl.

Two days later, officers contacted Donnerell Tambre Underwood, 45, on State Street around 3:13 p.m. April 19. APD said Underwood was already wanted for a probation violation and for failing to appear on a DWI charge. During that arrest, police said they found a firearm, fentanyl and crack cocaine.

Together, the arrests led to the seizure of 101.9 grams of fentanyl, 3.89 grams of cocaine and 8 grams of marijuana, according to APD’s account of the case. Cox was held without bond. Underwood was jailed on a $75,000 secured bond.

The quantity of fentanyl is especially significant in a county still living with the fallout from the opioid epidemic. The DEA says 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage, and it warns that counterfeit pills have been found with at least that amount. In Buncombe County, officials say the county is set to receive more than $30 million over 18 years in opioid settlement money for treatment, recovery and harm-reduction efforts.

The arrests also landed against a broader backdrop of overdose deaths. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services estimates show 2,731 suspected overdose deaths statewide in 2025. In Buncombe County, fentanyl-positive deaths fell to 66 in 2025, down from 82 in 2024 and 144 in 2022, but the drug still remains at the center of local enforcement and public-safety concerns.

For West Asheville, the case underscores how quickly street-level contact can turn into a larger trafficking and firearms investigation. APD’s seizures removed a large supply of fentanyl from circulation, along with cocaine, marijuana and a gun, in a part of the city where neighbors continue to watch drug activity closely.