Two charged in Rockwell marijuana bust

William Eugene Taylor, center, is taken into custody Thursday by Rowan County Sheriff's Office investigators at his home on Dutch Farm Road near Rockwell. Authorities said Taylor had a marijuana growing operation in his home. Photo by Scott Jenkins, Salisbury Post

William Derrick Taylor

Crime Scene Investigator Tracy Misenheimer works with evidence, including marijuana plants, pulled from a home on Dutch Farm Road where authorties said the homeowner had a marijuana growing operation. Photo by Scott Jenkins, Salisbury Post

Authorities say they found 32 marijuana plants growing inside this home at 115 Dutch Farm Road near Rockwell. They say the resident was growing the plants and his son was selling the marijuana at another Rockwell home. Photo by Scott Jenkins, Salisbury Post

Rowan County Sheriff's Office Detective Carl Dangerfield holds a plastic container full of marijuana plants taken from a house Thursday on Dutch Farm Road near Rockwell. Photo by Scott Jenkins, Salisbury Post

Rowan County Sheriff's Office Detective Carl Dangerfield, left, takes a rifle and other items seized at a home on Dutch Farm Road from Crime Scene Investigator Tracy Misenheimer. Photo by Scott Jenkins, Salisbury Post

By Scott Jenkins

sjenkins@salisburypost.com

ROCKWELL — When a Dutch Farm Road man came home Thursday morning and found his driveway full of visitors, he kept on going.

He didn't get far. Most of those visitors were Rowan County Sheriff's Office investigators serving a search warrant on the home. They stopped William Eugene Taylor, of 115 Dutch Farm Road, and took him into custody. He's charged with operating what authorities called a fairly sophisticated marijuana-growing operation in his house.

The home on Dutch Farm Road south of Rockwell was one of two that investigators from four law enforcement agencies descended on Thursday morning to bust up what they said was a marijuana growing and sales operating involving Taylor and his son, William Derrick Taylor, of 1007 Cannon St. Extension.

In addition to the Rowan Sheriff's Office, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, Salisbury Police Department and N.C. State Bureau of Investigation took part in the investigation and the simultaneous serving of search warrants at the two homes.

Acting Sheriff Kevin Auten said investigators "received information" about the drug operation. He said they found 32 marijuana plants in various stages of development at the Dutch Farm Road residence. In the basement, they found 22 more advanced plants, and in a closet in the main part of the home, they discovered 10 "clones," plants which had been cut from the others.

Along with the marijuana, they confiscated high-intensity lights, fans and ventilation materials used in the growing operation, Auten said. They also carried out a .22-caliber rifle and a .9mm handgun.

Auten said the operation at the home was "a little more advanced than we normally see." He said cloning the plants creates a more potent form of the drug.

"It's not like kids trying to grow two or three marijuana plants on the porch," he said. "It took some effort."

Investigators carried plants several feet tall from the house. They pulled the plants from their potting soil and growing containers and packed them into large plastic tubs. Auten said each plant would yield about a pound of marijuana, with a street value of roughly $2,400 a pound.

While the investigators were at the Dutch Farm Road home, others were serving a search warrant at the younger Taylor's home on Cannon Street Extension in Rockwell. There they found more than a ounce of marijuana and two or three handguns, Auten said.

He said the marijuana grown at the Dutch Farm Road home was eventually sold at the Cannon Street Extension home "like a retail store."

Some of the customers were from Iredell County, he said, and that's why the Iredell Sheriff's Office got involved in the investigation.

Local investigators and an SBI agent had wrapped up their work on Dutch Farm Road, posted a copy of the search warrant on the back door and were leaving with plans to obtain warrants for Taylor and his son.

Then a red Chevrolet pickup drove past the home.

Passing by the pickup, Rowan Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Owens put his unmarked black sport-utility vehicle in reverse. Driving backwards, he quickly overtook and stopped the small truck, driven by the elder Taylor.

Investigators got Taylor out of the truck and drove him back to his house. They gave him the warrant that had been taped to his door and informed him he was under arrest.

"He said, 'OK. This sucks,' " Rowan Sheriff's Lt. Chad Moose said after deputies drove Taylor away in a patrol car.

Taylor, 60, was charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a controlled substance; maintaining a dwelling for the sale of a controlled substance; manufacturing a controlled substance; and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center under $50,000 bond.

Capt. John Sifford of the Rowan Sheriff's Office said authorities took William Derrick Taylor, 40, into custody when he showed up at the county magistrate's office trying to get his father out. He is charged with maintaining a dwelling to keep and store a controlled substance; possession with intent to sell and distribute a controlled substance; possession of drug paraphernalia; manufacturing a controlled substance; and possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a controlled substance.

The younger Taylor, whose bond was set at $65,000, is also charged with possession of a non-tax-paid alcoholic beverage — two quarts of corn liquor, Sifford said — and possession of a firearm by a felon. He has several previous convictions on drug charges.

A woman who lives next door to the elder Taylor on Dutch Farm Road said she and her husband had only recently moved there and hadn't noticed anything suspicious.

Another neighbor, who didn't want her name used, said she was surprised when she heard about the drug raid. She said Taylor was "a very good neighbor, quiet."