Three Arrested on Drug, Weapons Charges

By Joel Frady

A joint undercover investigation by the narcotics team of the Ashe County Sheriff's Office and the State Bu-reau of Investigation led to a raid in Baldwin on Wednesday, Feb. 25, that uncovered a variety of drugs and weapons. Ashe County Sheriff James Williams said that they found a "variety stop-and-shop" in the residence, located at 777 Highway 194.

"I told them I've never seen anyone have so much variety in a house," said Williams. "We found crystal meth, marijuana, LSD, crack pipes, two guns, a case of moonshine liquor and a box of blasting caps."

Those arrested in the raid were:

Michael Todd Layton of Todd, a convicted felon who lived at the residence, was charged with two counts of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver methamphetamine; possession of methampheta-mine; possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana; felony possession of marijuana; possession of LSD; and maintaining a vehicle or dwelling place for a controlled substance.

-Scott Craig Wallace of Todd was charged with possession of methamphetamine; maintaining a vehicle or dwelling place for a controlled substance; possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of a weapon of mass destruction (for the blasting caps); and misdemeanor possession of marijuana up to one-half of an ounce.

Layton was released from the Ashe County Jail on Monday night under a $35,000 secured bond, while Wal-lace is still being held under a $31,000 secured bond.

Williams said that the investigation had been going on for approximately a month and that there were "large amounts of meth, we believe, going in and out of that house.

"The significance [of the bust] to us was that we cut off another artery of the drug flow in this county," he continued, "and we also shut down a nuisance in the neighborhood. That's a good neighborhood, a nice neighborhood out there. Good citizens live in that community, yet you had this house where there was con-stant coming and going at all hours of the night and day. I'm sure it was a relief to the neighborhood that that won't be happening there anymore."

Wiliams noted that the bust also marked a returning substance.

"It's been a long time since I've seen LSD," he said. "I have [seen it] over the years, but I hadn't seen LSD in a while. It's our understanding that it's coming back in vogue now, but that's the first we've seen of it here."

Williams also said that the bomb disposal unit of the SBI, based in Asheville, made the trip to Ashe County to destroy the blasting caps.

In another incident, the Ashe County Sheriff's Office also arrested Christy Denise Adams of Marion, Va., at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, at the Corner Market in Jefferson.

Williams said that the sheriff's office "had information that there were drugs being transported into this county out of Virginia. And we were waiting when they came in."

She has been charged with two counts of trafficking in amphetamine and methamphetamine and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. She was released from the Ashe County Jail under a $150,000 secured bond.