CONCORD POLICE BUST PRESCRIPTION DRUG RING

67-year-old Charged With Selling Painkillers

CONCORD -- An Eva Drive house was such a hotbed of drug activity, police
said, that even as officers were searching it Friday afternoon, people
pulled up in the yard trying to sell their prescription painkillers.

A man called from Charlotte, saying he was on his way to buy. Police
answered anonymously: "OK, we'll be waiting."

Police left the house with nearly $1,500 worth of prescription painkillers
and with Bryant Preston Bradbury, 67. He was arrested and charged with nine
counts each of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances,
sale and delivery of controlled substances and maintaining a dwelling for
sale and delivery.

The drugs included OxyContin, hydrocodone and other prescription
painkillers, police said.

Bradbury has been released from the Cabarrus County Jail on $40,000 bond.
He has a long arrest record and has pleaded guilty in the past to selling
drugs, according to court records.

The arrest followed a two-month undercover investigation, said Sgt. Tyler
Gayan of the Concord Police Department.

Police said that according to informants, customers came from a 50-mile
radius to the house at 2641 Eva Drive.

During the investigation, undercover officers bought drugs from Bradbury
and learned his business, Gayan said.

They chose Friday to search because they knew it was a busy day.

Concord police have seen the OxyContin market grow substantially in the
last year, as it has nationwide.