Homeowner disputes ‘drug house’ sign in yard posted by Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office posted a sign in a yard that read, “This drug house closed for business” after deputies executed a search warrant of the property and seized drugs and stolen property.

However, the homeowner said she is not facing drug charges and her property is not a drug house.

“I work 12 hours a day to take care of my kids, to take care of my household and now everyone believes this is a drug house,” Palmer said. “No, it’s not.”

The sheriff’s office posted on Facebook saying that drugs were being sold out of the house on North Rollingbrook Court in Kings Mountain, but Erica Palmer, the owner, says otherwise. She said the drugs were not inside her home.

However, deputies said they found 68 grams of meth and some pot on the property of the home. They also seized five guns, one of which was stolen from Shelby the same day and a sawed-off shotgun. Investigators also seized two stolen vehicles from the property.

“That’s disrespectful,” Palmer said. “It would be different if you found the drug inside my home. But you did not, you found it on the outside of my home. Not on the inside. And this is not a drug house.”

The search warrant left at the home said deputies went to the house after conducting surveillance and learning from a cooperating witness that a large amount of meth was at the home.

Palmer, 36, was arrested in the case and charged with possession of stolen goods. Palmer was released from jail hours later.

Jeffery Scott Martin and David Brandon McGee were also taken into custody on drug and weapon charges.

Neighbors in the Rollingbrook Court neighborhood told Channel 9 they have seen cars coming in and out of the house late at night.

“I like the sign,” neighbor Michael Richard said. “I like it for the fact that it lets everyone know they’re looking for people like that.”

Martin, 34, was charged with trafficking meth, possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana, three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a weapon of mass destruction, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

McGee, 26, was charged with trafficking meth, possession of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of a stolen firearm.

A traffic stop of a stolen motorcycle led investigators to the home.

Palmer wants people to know that she is still living there with her three children and that the narcotics were not hers.

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