ROCKINGHAM — Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office seized a security system from a suspected drug dealer last month.
According to court documents, investigators executed a search warrant at 10:47 a.m. July 12 at the Road Runner Road home of 50-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Nichols.
The only items listed on the inventory sheet for seized property were a Night Owl security system and four cameras.
Warrants allege that Nichols sold nearly 4 grams of crack cocaine to a confidential informant during four encounters this year: 1 gram on Jan. 18; 1.1 grams on Jan. 22; 0.95 grams on July 8; and 0.7 grams on July 10-11.
He was arrested July 17 and charged with four counts each of: possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance; selling or delivering a Schedule II controlled substance; delivering a Schedule II controlled substance; and maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance.
Nichols was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $25,000 secured bond and released on bail the same day, records show. He is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22.
Nichols most recent conviction was on drug charges — possession of a Schedule I controlled substance, selling or delivering a Schedule I controlled substance — in 2011, according to online records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
He was also convicted on two counts of selling a Schedule II controlled substance in 1992.
In both cases, Nichols was put on probation.
His only other conviction was for assault inflicting serious injury in 1990. Nichols was initially just given probation, which was revoked the following year and landed him behind bars for about a month, records show.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
