Surry County elections chair resigns after being accused of putting MDMA into grandchildren’s ice cream

Wilmington Police Department announced on Tuesday they arrested James Edwin Yokeley and charged him with felony child abuse, possession of a controlled substance, and contaminating food with a controlled substance.

The charges stem from an Aug. 8 encounter when Yokeley reportedly flagged down an officer at a Wilmington Sheetz and told him he’d found something in his grandchildren’s ice cream.

Two pills were found and medical professionals determined the children had not injested anything.

Video footage reportedly showed Yokeley putting the pills in the children’s food, according to the Wilmington Police Department.

Warrants state Yokeley “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did intentionally inflict serious physical injury, placing blue pressed pill containing MDMA, cocaine into blizzard drink being consumed by victim” while acting as their guardian for the weekend.

Yokeley was selected by Dave Boliek to lead the Surry County Board of Elections in June.

Yokeley resigned from the board on late Thursday morning after Boliek called for him to step down the same day.

“As I had called for, the Chair of the Surry County Board of Elections has resigned,” Boliek said in a statement. “With his resignation, the Surry County board and state board can now, without distraction, move forward with the process of appointing a replacement.”