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On Nov. 13, officers seized 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of suspected methamphetamine from a man’s car, and another pound of suspected methamphetamine and about 20 guns from his home after a months-long operation, McDowell County Sheriff Ricky Buchanan said at a press conference on Friday, Dec. 13.

McDowell County Drug Enforcement, a group of law enforcement officers from the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, the Marion Police Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, led the investigation.

“It’s the work, it’s the hours that they have put into this to make a seizure like this happen,� Buchanan said. “While we can weigh the drug amounts, while we can look and count the number of guns we seized, what we can’t do is put a number on the … actual number of lives that have been saved by this amount of drugs, this amount of poison, being taken off our streets.

“And all the credit goes to the men and women that work behind the scenes in this drug group to make that happen.�

Inside the arrest

Officers worked for months investigating two Nebo men — Greggory Cole Lowery and Timothy James Beaty — for drug trafficking, Buchanan said.

On Nov. 13, McDowell County Drug Enforcement and the Rutherford County Narcotics and Street Crimes Units were conducting surveillance on U.S. Highway 221 near the Rutherford/McDowell County line when they saw Lowery driving a grey Honda Pilot. He was followed closely by Beaty, who was driving a yellow Ford F-150, according to information from the sheriff’s office.

Buchanan said investigators believe the pickup truck was a decoy car.

Rutherford County detectives stopped the pickup truck for a traffic violation while McDowell County deputies tried to stop Lowery’s vehicle for a traffic violation once he crossed into McDowell County, the sheriff’s office said.

Lowery tried to outrun officers, the sheriff’s office said, fleeing onto Polly Spout Road and Vein Mountain Road before pulling over, pouring some type of accelerant inside the vehicle and setting it on fire. Officers said Lowery ran from the vehicle, but he was taken into custody after a brief foot chase, and the fire was extinguished, according to the sheriff’s office.

A search of Lowery’s vehicle turned up 50 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine, which has a street value of about $3.8 million, the sheriff’s office said.

At Lowery’s home, investigators seized another pound of methamphetamine and about 20 guns, according to the sheriff’s office.

Lowery, 36, was charged with two counts of trafficking methamphetamine, with additional charges pending. He’s being held under a $2 million secured bond, the sheriff’s office said.

Beaty was charged with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine. His bond was set at $500,000 secured, the sheriff’s office said.

Lowery and Beaty are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Collaboration is key

Arrests like the two made on Nov. 13 wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of McDowell County Drug Enforcement, said Allen Lawrence, chief of Marion Police Department.

He said this is the largest drug bust in McDowell County history and could be one of the largest in western North Carolina.

“That didn’t happen by chance. That didn’t happen by luck,� Lawrence said. “That happens by the years of experience, the talent and the dedication of every individual that’s on that team, that unit and the hard work they put, the hours that they spent away from their own families.�

Much of that hard work happens behind the scenes and it can be stressful, Lawrence said, trying to keep up with the twists and turns of each investigation. But he said the hard work pays off when seizures like the one on Nov. 13 happen.

“We’re the ones who are privileged and honored to work with them every day so we can be the ones up here to represent them and help protect their identities and what they do each and every day,� Lawrence said.

Chip Hawley, director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, joined Lawrence and Buchanan for the press conference on Friday. He said the collaboration seen in this investigation is crucial.

“It takes me back, I was telling the sheriff, how they’re so close … that they work together, like, seamlessly, and that does not happen across the state in every community,� Hawley said. “Here in the western part of the state, that does, and that’s just very humbling and I really appreciate being a part of this.�

Message to the community, traffickers

Buchanan said the arrests demonstrated the measures people are willing to take to keep drugs on the street.

But he said it also shows that law enforcement won’t be backing down.

“They’re willing, number one, to take lives,� Buchanan said. “They’re selling this poison knowing that it’s killing people. So they have a total disregard for human life if they are selling and profiting off other people’s addictions and taking that risk of killing. We also know that whenever it comes to protecting their product, trying to elude apprehension and avoid any kind of punishment. … They don’t care about the people around me, they don’t care about the family that’s traveling up the road while they’re running from law enforcement.

“Total disregard. And I’ve got no use for it here in McDowell County, and I can tell you we’re going to continue to fight.�

Lawrence encouraged the community to continue to call in tips, no matter how small.

“Many times, when these cases, they come in very small … but this just goes to show how large this can be,� he said.

Buchanan said officers will continue to seize drugs and arrest traffickers, but the problem goes beyond McDowell County.

“We’re hearing from our drug suspects that the borders are wide open, and they’re trying to get as much as they can across the border right now before they start shutting it down,� Buchanan said. “At the end of the day, that’s where the community, not only McDowell County but the entire nation, needs to feel safer, hoping that these borders get tightened up.�

The fight is not over, he said.

“People need to know that we’re going to continue to arrest you if you choose to transport and traffic in illegal controlled substances,� Buchanan said. “That’s going to happen. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to continue to do what we can do to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations and our part to save lives.�