A 24-year-old Asheville man was sentenced Thursday to 135 months in federal prison for leading a fentanyl, methamphetamine, and firearms distribution ring in Buncombe County — a sentence that will stack on top of a separate 10-year prison term he is already serving for violating his federal probation. Sadiq Mafia Devoe Jones was still under federal supervised release for a prior firearm conviction when investigators say he went right back to dealing drugs.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jones was convicted of distributing fentanyl and will serve three years of supervised release once his combined prison terms are complete. U.S. Attorney WDNC, posting about the case on social media, put it bluntly: “Prior felon on federal probation sentenced to prison for distributing fentanyl.” United States Attorney Russ Ferguson, who leads the Western District of North Carolina, said in a statement that “shortly after Jones was released from federal prison he returned to a life of crime and drug dealing. Fentanyl kills, and we are committed to eliminating this deadly drug that ravages communities and destroys families.”
Federal court proceedings show the case began with an undercover investigation launched in August 2025 that identified Jones as the leader of a Buncombe County drug ring. Over the course of that operation, an undercover agent purchased more than 139 grams of fentanyl and 26 grams of methamphetamine from the network, according to the same DOJ account. Investigators also observed Jones using a juvenile to sell fentanyl during at least one transaction — a detail that carries serious legal weight, since federal law imposes enhanced statutory penalties, including doubled maximum sentences and mandatory minimum terms, on adults who involve minors in drug distribution schemes, per the Justice Department.
A November Raid Turned Up Guns and Crack Cocaine
Jones’s arrest didn’t come out of nowhere. In November 2025, Asheville Police and federal partners arrested him alongside three other individuals in a joint operation that recovered 26.91 grams of crack cocaine and seven firearms, according to the Asheville Police Department. Among the weapons seized were an AK-47 and a Glock pistol fitted with an illegal machinegun conversion switch, a device that turns a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon…