HAMLET — A domestic disturbance call last month led to a man being charged with trafficking cocaine.
According to court documents, officers with the Hamlet Police Department responded to a call Aug. 15 on West Hamlet Avenue in reference to a man refusing to leave a residence.
The defendant’s girlfriend reportedly went into a room to grab what she said was a bag belonging to the defendant, Gerquan Tyquise McLaurin.
The girlfriend brought the bag into the living room and pulled out a small box with three large bags of a white powdery substance and “a large bundle of cash,” according to court documents.
When the detective was called to the scene, he reported that McLaurin was sitting handcuffed in a chair and the girlfriend was holding a baby younger than six months old.
The investigator also notes in a search warrant affidavit that McLaurin was arrested at the same residence two months earlier for being in possession of suspected cocaine and marijuana.
According to court documents, a license plate on a car on the property was registered to McLaurin — but for a different vehicle.
Police searched the home and two vehicles and reportedly found:
- Four baggies of a white powder substance
- A paper containing a green leafy substance
- Two sets of scales
- Two plastic baggies with ripped corners
- A box of plastic baggies
- $540 in cash
- A box of Luger 9mm bullets with two bullets inside
- A Glock 43 handgun
- A Taurus GC2 handgun
- A factory box for a Taurus GC2
- A pro mag bag with a 32-round magazine label (empty)
- A Luger TulAmmo bullet in the chamber of a Taurus GC2
- 9mm bullets found in the magazine of a Taurus GC2
- A magazine for a Taurus
- A Glock 43 gun case with magazine
- A 19-round magazine for a Glock 43
- A Taurus GC2 magazine
- 10 Luger TulAmmo rounds in a Glock 43 magazine
According to warrants, McLaurin was in possession of 33.5 grams of cocaine.
Having been previously convicted of common law robbery in Guilford County, McLaurin is prohibited from having firearms.
McLaurin is charged with one felony count each of trafficking in cocaine and possession of a firearm by a felon, in addition to one misdemeanor count each of possession of up to a half-ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“I believe the investigation is a strong example of the positive and proactive police work that the Hamlet Police Department will be showing the city and county going forward to benefit the citizens therein,” Detective Antony Zeppetella said in a Sept. 13 email. “Also, we would like to thank the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and Fayetteville Police Department and their technology/firearms units who have been aiding us in both their technology units and firearms units alike.”
Online jail records show McLaurin was also charged Aug. 30 with a felony count of possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver cocaine.
He is being held in the Richmond County Jail under a combined $250,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 7.
Online court records show McLaurin also has pending charges of possession of a schedule II controlled substance, possession of up to a half-ounce of marijuana and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.
McLaurin also has pending traffic citations in both Richmond and Anson counties.
The Division of Community Corrections has also charged him with three out-of county probation violations.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction McLaurin was convicted in 2014 of common law robbery, obtaining property by false pretenses and possession of stolen goods in Guilford County.
His probation was revoked two years later, landing him behind bars for three months.
McLaurin was given probation in 2018 for a conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon in Anson County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
