The Macon County Sheriff’s Office is applying for a Governor’s Crime Commission grant to help reduce the amount of illegal narcotics brought into Macon County. The grant has helped to fund the Macon County Narcotics Unit. According to the grant application, the narcotics project will allow aggressive efforts in targeting narcotic traffickers.

The Macon County Sheriff’s Office has made great strides in narcotic investigations over the last few years, according to the officers, leading to large busts of direct suppliers. The unit formed when the first Crime Commission grant was approved three years ago.

Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland said the same grant has been applied for and approved the last two years. “It will keep the same officers working,” he said of the grant at the Macon County Board of Commissioners meeting held Monday, Jan. 11. “The first year of the grant,” said Holland, “we created the Narcotics Unit. They have done a tremendous job and we have seen a substantial increase in drug arrests. Before the unit formed, big busts were not as frequent. The grant allowed additional resources and training.” Holland said that when he first took office in 2002, the resources were simply not available to conduct such investigations.

During the last year, the Narcotics Unit has produced 79 cases with 207 felony charges, 45 misdemeanor and 25 search warrants. Fourteen people are in federal court awaiting sentencing and three people will be taken before a grand jury in Asheville for trafficking in cocaine. Seizures include seven grams of cocaine, 98 grams of crack cocaine, 32.5 grams of meth, 177 marijuana plants, 4,014 grams of marijuana and hundreds of prescription pills. In one joint drug operation, 41 individuals were arrested in Macon County for the sale of illegal drugs.

Lt. Brian Leopard, supervisor of the Narcotics Unit, in the foreground, executed a search warrant on an unwilling subject with the assistance of Sgt. Clay Bryson, Detective Tony Carver and Corp. Bryant Hodgins of the Sheriff’s Department during the 2009 operation that resulted in the arrest of 41 alleged drug dealers. Most of those arrested have since plead guilty and received reduced sentences.

Objectives of the narcotics project include identifying Mexican Nationals involved in the trafficking or distribution of narcotics. The project will also seek to investigate and dismantle meth labs in Western North Carolina, and to investigate the illegal sale of prescription medication and drug overdose deaths. If funding is approved, Macon County will be a resource for other counties to call for assistance in dismantling a meth lab.

The grant application requests a total of $94,111.44. The federal request is $70,583.38 with a local match of $23,527.86. Out of the requested funding, $65,905.44 will be spent on personnel, $5,120 on travel and $23,086 for supplies.

“The grant brings federal tax dollars back in to Macon County to benefit the county,” said Holland. Referencing drug-related activity, Holland said, “There is a lot going on and a lot more will come out. We have made a lot of headway, but we have a lot of work still to do. The grant allows specific officers to be focused on the drug trade in Macon County.”

The Sheriff’s Department maintains two fulltime narcotics detectives. This year, one officer’s duties will shift to deal primarily with the sale of prescription drugs. The officer will also be involved in all investigations where there has been a death due to overdose and will try to track the source to determine if the pills were obtained illegally. The officer will then target the source of the pills and focus on a criminal investigation of the supplier for the death.

Holland said that if the grant funding is not approved, an officer could be out of a job.

Pictured here is marijuana and methamphetamines seized by the unit.

Commissioner Jim Davis thanked the department for their work on Operation Think Twice, a program implemented for the first time this New Year’s Eve to allow individuals who have been drinking to get rides home from the officers with no questions asked.

“Thank you for the program on New Year’s Eve,” said Davis at the meeting. “It was a real asset, a great thing for the county.”

“We will definitely do it again next year,” said Holland of Operation Think Twice.

Holland said the community is also a big help in busting crime. He urges citizens to call the Macon County Crime Stoppers number at (828) 349-2600. “You can remain anonymous,” said Holland. “We’ll follow any leads we get.”