Apparently, there’s a whole lot of cocaine in Guilford County these days.
A whole lot.
In the past few weeks, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office and the Greensboro Police Department have had three huge busts and taken millions of dollars of cocaine off the market.
The latest one was announced on Thursday, March 6. Deputies with the Sheriff’s Office VICE/Narcotics Unit, in collaboration with the Greensboro Police Department, conducted a narcotics investigation that led to the arrest of 39-year-old Quentin Bowers. During that investigation, Bowers was found to be in possession of 12,184 grams of cocaine, two firearms and a large amount of cash. (See pciture above.)
According to the authorities, the estimated street value of the seized cocaine in this bust is approximately $1.2 million.
Bowers has been charged with:
- Two counts of Felony Level 3 Trafficking in Cocaine
- Felony Maintaining a Dwelling/Vehicle for Controlled Substance
- Felony Possession with the Intent to Manufacture, Sell, or Distribute Cocaine
- Felony Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon
Currently, he’s being held at the Guilford County Detention Center in downtown Greensboro under a $750,000 secured bond.
This arrest comes right on the heels of another big cocaine arrest.
On Friday, Feb. 28, at just after 3:30 p.m., Sheriff’s Office deputies executed a search warrant for a narcotics violation at 7986 Lester Road in Stokesdale. They arrested 35-year-old Chase Stephens, a Stokesdale resident, who was said to be in possession of 80 grams of crack cocaine and 18 grams of regular cocaine. He also allegedly had a veritable superstore of many other types of drugs from synthetic mushrooms to crystal meth to plain old weed.
Stephens was also found to be in possession of a “Military-grade smoke grenade” which earned him a charge of “Felony Possession of a Weapon of Mass Death and Destruction.”
He was being held in the Guilford County Detention Center in downtown Greensboro under a $500,000 secured bond.
(Some readers wondered why a smoke grenade was labeled as a “Weapon of Mass Death and Destruction.” The Rhino Times asked the Sheriff’s Office and they responded, “The relatively recent North Carolina Supreme Court decision in State v. Carey, 373 N.C. 445, 838 S.E.2d 367 (issued in February 2020), broadly interpreted the term “weapon of mass death and destruction” and concluded that “any ‘explosive or incendiary’ grenade is a weapon of mass death and destruction for purposes of the prohibition set out in NC General Statute 14-288.8(a)”. (underscoring added for emphasis). Based on the holding in State v. Carey and the November 2023 open letter issued by the Federal BATF, rescinding special explosive device exemptions for certain consumer-style grenades–including smoke grenades–the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is confident that probable cause supported this criminal charge. The Criminal Magistrate who reviewed this arrest obviously agreed, and found that probable cause existed for this charge.”)
Earlier in February, the Greensboro Police Department and the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office made another big-time cocaine arrest of a middle-aged man speeding along I-40 who was allegedly in possession of about $1.25 million worth amount of cocaine.
The accused was said to be driving at over 100 miles per hour, smoking weed, with blocks of cocaine sitting clearly visible on the back seat. He was on a stretch of I-40 East in a Florida-registered SUV. According to a complaint filed in federal court, a Guilford County Sheriff’s deputy pulled the man near the Mount Hope Church Road exit where the speed limit is 55 miles per hour.
Can Skip get this cash for all the school teachers? Maybe reduce our taxes?
Unfortunately, all of this confiscated Drug Money has already been spent? It was used to pay for Sheriff Danny Roger’s rebranding of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Dept. and their desperately needed Cowboy Hats? The rest went to the International Civil Rights Museum?
I applauded our Sheriff and Police departments for removing the drugs and criminals off our streets! Finally cleaning up our county. City council take note – when your police department does not have their hands tied they do fantastic work!
In Guilford County, if you drive over 100 miles per hour while hauling drugs or brag about your hand grenade and sell drugs, you are likely to be caught. I wonder what the guy in Stokesdale did to get arrested, that is besides selling drugs.
“While smoke grenades are not generally meant to be deadly, they can be.”
I will agree with you only to the extent that they CAN be deadly if they malfunction or are drastically modified (see . They are designed to do a slow burn of the contents in order to produce the smoke. By your line of thought ANY weapon can be deadly. Fireworks could, IMO, be considered a Weapon of Mass Death and Destruction. (Ever packed a can full of cherry bombs?) I can’t buy or possess a 40mm grenade launcher but I can legally buy and use a version in a smaller caliber. Additionally I can buy and use commercially smoke grenades, the main differences being size.
My point is I see this as a case of overcharging so we can negotiate. I have no problem with that. It’s a legal tactic.
Alan, my friend
I know you haven’t been getting much sleep of late, but please do a little better of proofreading.
On the subject presented, until we start actually PUNISHING drug dealers, regardless of amount, they will continue. It’s a simple comparison of the price paid when caught vs. the (excessive) profit gained.
Hard time w/no parole or reduction, 6 to 7 figure fines, confiscation of property and accounts to pay those fines, life in prison w/o possibility of parole when some dies from the sold product, (although I would prefer the death penalty. Saudi Arabia has it right IMO)
Where in Guilford County did this bust take place??
While you’re at it, change the City’s name to “Blacksboro”. Or more accurately, “Commieville”.
Hmmmmmm
i don’t consider tobacco/alcohol producers/processors/sellers to be evil or immoral – same for people involved with ‘pain killers’. self medicating should be a ‘right’ but subject to community standards of ‘behavior’ ‘culture’ ? consider eliminating high speed vehicles & cocaine ? which causes the most destruction ? BOTH !
Those bond amounts are a joke. Their bond should have been millions of dollars to keep them locked up until tried. For the gentleman who said Guilford County’ name should be changed to Blacksboro….these defendants sound very non-black and a black person’s bond is usually much higher
Teresa,
I wholeheartedly agree with you on the bond subject. When it involves possession with intent to sell the STARTING point for a bond should be one million dollars REGARDLESS of the amount and go up from there, and it should be a SECURED bond.
Also I agree with you in that I don’t care what color you are. Black, white, yellow, brown, red, or chartreuse. The same applies to your economic/social status. A drug dealer is, IMO, among the lowest 1% form of life of the human race.
Nope, that’s not true about black people’s bond Teresa. The fact is most judicial officials setting the bonds are black. There are guidelines to be followed when setting bonds and those guidelines apply to everybody.
As it should be.
Jv has a point. I seem to remember a sheriff close by who used seized cash from drugs to purchase fancy automobiles. Why can’t we do the same and use it for the schools? I’m not sure how much cash is in the bag in the picture, but it could at least make a downpayment on fixing the HVAC system at Page High School.
Richard,
How would you feel about a comprise where it is divided equally between LEO and the schools…with the caveat that those funds are earmarked, without exception, for teacher raises? Granted it may not be much but it’s better then what they are now getting.
Why do I feel repulsed by drug money going to teach kids in school? A graduate can say his education was paid for with drug money. Sheriffs’ offices should not be allowed to keep confiscated drug money. The amount should be duly counted and turned over to the state.
Patrick-Great idea. Some is better than none. Who do we have to hit upside the head to listen and discuss this?
As far as a name change for Greensboro, I nominate Greensboro California.
How about “Little Portland”, or “Big Sedalia”?