GASTONIA, N.C. — Police in Gastonia said they took $120,000 worth of cocaine off the street after raiding a house on Wednesday night.
A judge seemed stunned when he learned how much cocaine police say they found in Elsa Frias' car.
“You say it was 400 grams?” said Judge Jim Jackson in Gaston County District Court.
Police said they stopped Frias on Interstate 85, near Cox Road, on Wednesday night and found two and half pounds of cocaine inside. Investigators said they found more at her house on Oakwood Street.
Dixie Garver lives across the street.
“We've never had any problem,” Garver said. “We've lived here 26 years.”
Garver was shaken by the news that her neighbors are accused of having $120,000 worth of cocaine. She said scores of police officers raided the house.
“We have never had that many police out here on this road,” Garver said.
She said Frias, her husband Luis Mendoza, and friend Luis Perez always kept to themselves.
“I seen them moving in,” Garver said. “Never did see them after that.”
Eyewitness News showed neighbor Nikki Lipscomb their mug shots.
“I haven't even seen these people before,” Lipscomb said.
But her 9-year-old son did recognize the suspects, and that scared her.
“It's, like, right down the road from my house,” Lipscomb said. “My kids come up and down the road.”
The three suspects are charged with possessing and trafficking cocaine.