HAMLET — Police reportedly recovered stolen firearms during a traffic stop last week.
According to a social media post, officers with the Hamlet Police Department conducted a traffic stop on Dec. 12 for an unspecified violation.
When they approached the vehicle, the officers reportedly smelled marijuana coming from inside.
The officers searched the vehicle and reportedly found two stolen handguns and an unspecified quantity of cannabis. The post does not mention where the guns were reported stolen.
Two men inside the vehicle, 27-year-old Raheem Malik Bowden and 32-year-old Quorum Adontis Blyther, were each charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance.
Online court records show Bowden is also charged with possession of a stolen firearm and driving while license revoked.
They are scheduled to appear in court Dec. 22.
Records show Bowden is charged with driving while impaired, a civil revocation of his driver’s license and a misdemeanor probation violation in Montgomery County and has another charge of driving with a revoked license in Richmond County.
Blyther has a court date in Moore County on citations for speeding and reckless driving to endanger.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show Blyther was given a suspended sentence when he was convicted in March 2021 on one count of possession of a weapon of mass destruction and two counts of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance.
Bowden was convicted in 2018 of possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance in Stanly County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
