On May 7, two Beaufort County men were pulled in by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Drug Unit, both involved in the illegal sale of prescription pain medications, said a drug unit release.

Hilton Ray Everson, 37, of Swindell Road, Pantego, and Jerry Alonzo Narron, 55, of King Blount Drive, Bath, were both arrested for separate cases: Everson, for the sale of Oxycodone; Narron, for the sale of Hydrocodone. Both are opiate-based prescription pain medication.

According the drug unit press release, controlled buys from both men were observed by investigators. Narron was charged with level III trafficking in opiates and held under a $10,000 secured bond at the Beaufort County jail; Everson was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver a schedule II controlled substance and was confined under a $6,000.

According to a spokesman for the drug unit, both case are the result of the work of Investigator Greg Rowe, the drug unit’s dedicated diversion officer.

“Basically, Greg is responsible for diversion investigations—anything that is prescribed by a doctor. Information on those cases are funneled right to him. Most of our crimes now are diversion or heroin,” the spokesman said.

The fact that the prescription pills are synthetically produced in a controlled environment means that it’s a bigger draw for most opioid abusers, he said.