ROCKINGHAM — Two men are facing more than half a dozen charges after allegedly being caught last week with several types of illicit and prescription drugs.
According to warrants from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, 22-year-old Brandon Lee Cox and 31-year-old Edward Neil Griffin were in possession of: 33 grams of cocaine; 19 grams of meth; 61 dosage units of ecstasy; 20 dosage units of hydrocodone; eight dosage units of oxycodone; between ½ ounce and 1 ½ ounces of weed; and one suboxone.
According to the average going rates listed at rehabcenter.com, the drugs had a street value of roughly $6,000.
Deputies also reportedly found two sets of scales and two guns — a Cobra .380-caliber ACP and a North American Arms .22-caliber magnum. Both Griffin and Cox are convicted felons, barred from owning firearms.
They were each charged with: trafficking in cocaine; possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver methamphetamine; possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver MDMA; two counts of possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance; possession of a half ounce to 1 ½ ounces of marijuana; simple possession of a Schedule III controlled substance; possession of drug paraphernalia; and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The two were booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $200,000 secured bond. Cox has an additional $20,000 secured bond for a probation violation.
Cox was given a 24-month suspended sentence in December on a conviction of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. He had initially also been charged with five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill for firing a .22-caliber handgun into the window of a Chevrolet Blazer in Ellerbe, as well as shooting at several other people.
Griffin’s record goes back a decade, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
He was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia in 2009, simple assault in 2010 and felony larceny in 2011 and received probation in each case, records show.
He was also given probation in 2014 when convicted of assault on a female and assault on a handicapped person.
Griffin served the minimum eight-month sentence when convicted in Cumberland County of larceny of bank notes or bonds, misdemeanor larceny and three counts of breaking and entering vehicles.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
