Hoke County deputies find cock-fighting pits

Detective Steve Tidwell of the Hoke County Sheriff’s Department said the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team lucked into its find last Thursday after personnel in two National Guard helicopters spotted marijuana growing in someone’s yard.

Tidwell said the response team went to the home of Robert Marsh and his girlfriend, Heather Mosley. There, deputies found 16 marijuana plants growing in a side yard and more than 300 roosters housed in individual cages outside. They also found cock-fighting pits and log books about the fights.

The property is on Culbreth Road in southern Hoke County, near the Robeson County line.

Inside the house, deputies found 12 pounds of processed marijuana, about $22,000, and three guns. One of the handguns had been stolen in Durham, Tidwell said.

Marsh, 25, and Mosley, 22, each was charged with two counts of trafficking in marijuana and one count each of maintaining a drug house and manufacturing marijuana. Marsh was also charged with promoting cruelty to animals and cock fighting -- both misdemeanors,

Mosley was released Thursday on $20,000 bond. Marsh was released Friday morning on $100,00 bond.

Tidwell said Mosley has one prior arrest and conviction for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Marsh has felony convictions for possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of stolen firearms, possession of stolen goods, larceny of a firearm, embezzlement and breaking and entering, Tidwell said.

Deputies seized the cash, drugs, weapons and records, along with a 1998 Toyota pickup and a 1998 Jeep Cherokee, which are both paid for, Tidwell said. They also seized videotapes about raising gamecocks and teaching them to fight, scales, rolling papers and other drug paraphernalia. The roosters were turned over Hoke County Animal Control.

Tidwell said the marijuana plants have a street value of about $80,000, and the processed marijuana was worth about $12,000.

He said an arrest is unusual during similar drug searches. “Most people are smart enough to not plant them in their yard,” he said.

Local material copyright 1998 Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times