By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
Police officers responding to a routine call on Maupin Avenue Wednesday discovered what Deputy Police Chief Steve Whitley categorized as a potential “mushroom lab.”
According to Whitley, Salisbury Police were called to assist in a welfare check at 523 Maupin Ave. around 4 p.m.
When they arrived, Whitley said, they found the occupant, Charles Edward Earnhardt IV, “obviously sick” and lying in a room toward the back of the house. He was having difficulty breathing.
The Salisbury Fire Department and Rowan EMS were called to the scene. While they assisted Earnhardt, Whitley said personnel saw “a lot of items that resemble what we’d call a lab used to grow or make homemade narcotics.”
Earnhardt was subsequently transported to Rowan Regional Medical Center. He was in stable condition late Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesperson.
On the strength of what they observed while assisting him, police obtained a search warrant.
No charges had been filed against Earnhardt as of Wednesday evening, Whitley said.
Whitley said he did not believe the home contained a meth lab because air quality checks and observations didn’t resemble what would be expected if that were the case.
“There’s no reason to believe anything is going on in the house that would be a health hazard to the neighbors,” Whitley said.
After a dog inside the home was secured by Animal Control, police blocked Maupin Avenue between Jordan Street and Stanley Street for several hours until more officers and equipment could arrive.
Around 8 p.m., Whitley and narcotics investigators donned full protective gear and entered the home with flashlights, a camera and evidence collection gear.
Whitley said before entering that it would take several days to analyze the substances found inside, but that the immediate results of the search would be presented to the district attorney’s office today.
In 2007, Earnhardt was charged with felony possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, discharging a firearm in the city, and two counts of injury to personal property.
He received a suspended 6-8 month prison sentence and was placed on extended probation.