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Large still is destroyed; charges filed
by Jule Hubbard
Charges were filed late this morning in connection with a large liquor still found near the North Wilkesboro Speedway on Speedway Road and blown up by authorities Thursday night.
Carl Dean Combs 57, of Speedway Road, North Wilkesboro, was charged with manufacturing non-tax paid liquor, as well as one count each of possessing, possessing ingredients to manufacture and possessing equipment to manufacture non-tax paid liquor, said N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) Agent Shon Tally.
Tally said Combs was at his nearby residence when he and other ALE agents found the still in the back of a gray shop building behind a go-cart track, near the North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Tally said Combs wasn’t taken into custody when he served the warrants at his residence about 11:30 a.m. today.
He said the still had a capacity of 300 gallons per run, with about 1,150 gallons of corn mash in the “working” stage in preparation for another run in two to three days. Tally said the still was warm from a run of corn liquor on Thursday.
“It was a very professional, clean operation… all stainless steel,” he said, adding that it had a primary condenser and a secondary condenser for efficiency and quality. It also had about 180 feet of copper tubing.
Also seized and being held as evidence by the ALE were 200 gallons of corn liquor and 3,000 pounds of sugar.
Tally said that because the still was too large to haul away, the Wilkes Sheriff’s Department’s “bomb squad” was called to destroy the still. The operation was pulled with a tractor to a point in a field about 200 yards away and destroyed with two explosive charges about 8:30 p.m.
Capt. Doug Cotton of the Wilkes Sheriff’s Department reported that an old abandoned still and three stainless steel barrels were found in another nearby building.
The ALE initiated the investigation after receiving a complaint about liquor being made at the site from an anonymous caller. He said Combs was cooperative.
Five ALE agents and eight to 10 officers from the sheriff’s department were on the scene.
Tally said it was the first ALE liquor still raid in Wilkes since August 2007. |
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