On Thursday afternoon, December 17, Narcotics officers with the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on Sand Pit Road off 701 north of Elizabethtown near Turnbull Creek.
During the residence search, an amount of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, including baggies used to package cocaine and scales used to weigh cocaine, were seized.
Felony warrants have been obtained for the occupant of the residence, 45-year-old Morris Rico Smith. The charges against Smith are Felony possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Smith is still at large at this time.
Arrested near the residence was Jerome Richardson, a 35-year-old male of 3247 US 701 North, Elizabethtown. Richardson was charged with Possession with Intent to Sell and Deliver A Schedule I and II Controlled Substance, Felony Possession of Schedule I and II Controlled Substance, Maintaining a Vehicle for the Purpose of Drug Sales, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Simple Possession of Schedule VI Controlled Substance.
Richardson was placed in the Bladen County Detention Center under a $25,500 bond.
“We are serious about drug enforcement in Bladen County”, said Sheriff Jim McVicker. “If you sell drugs in Bladen County, expect a visit from our narcotics unit.”
Sheriff McVicker, Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene, and Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins recently formed a Tri-County Drug Task Force to assist each other with combating drugs across county lines.
According to the United States, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This publication’s information is not an opinion of guilt, but a report released for public information.
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