Georgia Inmate Who Coordinated The Distribution Of Fentanyl And Methamphetamine Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Les Corey Peak, 38, of Flat Rock, N.C., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to court records and court proceedings, from 2021 to 2023, Peak conspired with Zachery Micah Rice and others, to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl in Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania Counties, and elsewhere. During that time, Peak was incarcerated in the Georgia Department of Corrections. Court records show that Peak, using contraband phones, worked with his Atlanta-based supplier to arrange bulk drug purchases and coordinated with Rice to arrange the pickups. Rice then transported the drugs back to Western North Carolina for further distribution through a local network of traffickers and dealers. During one of the transactions Peak arranged, law enforcement stopped and searched Rice’s vehicle, seizing over 11.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, a .40 caliber pistol modified to fully automatic with a machinegun conversion device known as a “Glock switch,” and more than $32,683 in cash. Investigators later executed search warrants at stash houses and a storage unit used by Rice, recovering kilogram quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine supplied by the Atlanta based source, multiple firearms, including high-capacity magazines ammunition, digital scales, drug paraphernalia used for drug distribution, and more than $27,470.

On June 23, 2025, Peak pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. He remains in federal custody pending placement by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at a designated facility.

Rice was sentenced in May 2025 to more than 28 years in prison for his role in the conspiracy.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina,  the Asheville Police Department, the Waynesville Police Department, the Cherokee Indian Police Department, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, the Swain County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher S. Hess of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville handled the prosecution.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.