The Rockingham Police Department and Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Vice/Narcotics Divisions, with the aid of the Hamlet Police Department, have shut down an alleged drug house that sits half a block from an elementary school.
In a press release this week, Rockingham police said the three departments worked together and arrested Fletcher Delaine Bryant, 25, and Wesley Keith Clark, 29, both of 304 Monroe Ave., Hamlet, on Jan. 24, after executing a search warrant on the residence.
“It shows the effort and how the Rockingham Police, the Sheriff’s Office and Hamlet Police can pull resources together to close cases such as this,” said Rockingham Police Chief Billy Kelly. “There’s no one seeking credit, only results.”
Officers said the investigation into the residence began when the Rockingham Police Department Vice/Narcotics division received information that the men were selling and possibly cooking “meth” at the home.
During the course of the investigation it became clear that not only were the individuals allegedly selling methamphetamine, but a wide range of other illegal narcotics as well, and doing so in the proximity of a school in Hamlet. The alleged drug house, an older single story residence with a fenced in yard, sits just down the street from Monroe Avenue Elementary School.
“Drugs have no eyes or ears, so they can be anywhere,” said Hamlet Police Chief Amery Griffin. “We all have the common goal to get the job done.”
“I’m just glad they were able to make the arrests to remove the threats from the school and the community,” said Kelly.
Clark is charged with possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver methamphetamine, selling methamphetamine, selling methamphetamine within a 1,000 feet of a school, possession with intent to sell/deliver a schedule II controlled substance and selling a schedule II controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, lawmen said. He was placed in the Richmond County Jail under a $50,000 bond.
Clark has previous convictions including assault inflicting serious bodily injury, felony larceny, assault on a female, and numerous counts of driving while license revoked, according to state prison records.
Bryant is charged with conspiring to sell methamphetamine, conspiring to sell a schedule II controlled substance and maintaining a dwelling for the sell of narcotics, lawmen said. He was also placed in the Richmond County Jail under a $50,000 bond, according to officers.
Bryant also has a criminal past, with previous convictions of discharging a firearm on an occupied property, receiving stolen goods, simple assault/affray, breaking and entering into vending machines and two counts of driving while intoxicated, according to state prison records.
— Staff Writer Cassidy Odom can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 16, or by email at codom@civitasmedia.com.
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