Crime
Wake Forest police charge man with having 23.5 pounds of marijuana, opiate pills
A Wake Forest man was being held on $1 million bail Wednesday on drug-trafficking charges after town police stopped him on the street and searched his house and seized marijuana, guns and cash.
Richard Zachary Hawes, 29, was arrested at South Main Street and Rogers Road about 2 p.m., records showed. Police listed Hawes as living at 1108 Purisma Court.
They said in a statement later Wednesday that they obtained a search warrant for the home after a months-long investigation and found 23.5 pounds of marijuana, 104 oxycodone pills, both quantities that bring trafficking charges, seven guns, thousands of dollars in cash and a currency-counting machine.
In addition to trafficking, police charged Hawes with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and deliver it and felony marijuana possession, which are lesser charges than the trafficking count.
Hawes kept the drugs at his home, police said, and they charged him with using it to keep and sell drugs.
In their statement, police said the arrest and seizure capped an eight-month investigation. They said that Wake County sheriff’s deputies helped with the search and that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration was part of a follow-up inquiry.
Hawes also was charged with a misdemeanor, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Hawes was put on the court calendar for a first appearance Wednesday afternoon.
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