Since George Wilhelm was elected sheriff two years ago, more than 13,168 grams of cocaine, 83,824 grams of marijuana and 5,969 doses of other illegal controlled substances having street values of over $2.9 million dollars have been seized by the sheriff’s office. Cash seizures totaled $240,780. This does not include the historic drug bust two weeks ago where over 4 tons of marijuana and $1.4 million in cash were recovered.

Sheriff Wilhelm ran on a platform of getting tough on drugs. These numbers reflect that under Sheriff Wilhelm’s leadership, record amounts of drug and cash seizures for Rowan County have occurred.

So, yes, Rodney Cress, some drugs do get to the streets in Rowan County, but through the hard work by Sheriff Wilhelm and his department, a lot of drugs have not hit the streets. Also, U.S. Customs did not head the investigation of the recent drug arrests. Through interagency consensus they were allowed to adopt the case so it could be prosecuted in federal court. If you will recall from your law enforcement training, the U.S. Customs Department has limited jurisdiction and must be requested by local law enforcement, by law, to assist in certain investigations. As far as Sheriff Wilhelm’s involvement, he was first on the scene and personally blocked the truck containing the money and drugs and kept it from getting away. So get the facts straight. Sheriff Wilhelm is a working sheriff and is doing exactly what he said he would do.

— STEVE SCHENK
Salisbury

Editor’s note: The writer is chief deputy for the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department.