Confrontation leads to meth, pill charges for China Grove man

Published 3:02 pm Thursday, March 12, 2020

SALISBURY — A China Grove man faces felony drug possession charges after a confrontation with a convenience store employee led to an arrest by a nearby Salisbury police officer.

Salisbury Police charged Chad Howard Parson, 43, of Eastside Drive, with felony possession of a controlled substance schedule II (crystal meth), felony possession of a controlled substance schedule III (Xanax), felony possession of a controlled substance schedule IV (buprenorphine) and an arrest warrant for failure to appear.

An officer was at Sheetz gas station, 1520 S. Jake Alexander Blvd., on Thursday just before 2 a.m. when the officer noticed a man outside the store with two phone chargers sticking out of his pocket and a third attached to a cord draped around his neck. A store employee confronted the man and the officer intervened, said police spokesman Lee Walker.

The man, identified as Chad Parson, was searched.

The officer reportedly found a prescription bottle with no label inside Parson’s pocket. The bottle was filled with various pills, police said. The officer reportedly found crystal meth, 23 buprenorphine pills, 11 diazepam pills, one and a half Xanax pills and one unknown white pill.

He was issued a $2,000 secured bond and has since been released from the Rowan County Detention Center.