July 17, drug unit investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Pantego woman on trafficking charges.
Vernell Whitney Peartree, 50, of 199 Pine St., Pantego, was charged with two counts each of trafficking in opium by possession and transportation. Peartree was allegedly selling prescription pain medication.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office drug unit said the source of pain meds sold illegally is often legal.
“A good majority have valid prescriptions but when they divert them to sell them to make money, then they’re nullifying the valid prescription,” the spokesman explained. “I would say it’s 50-50 between those that have prescriptions and those getting them from someone else who has a prescription.”