PROPERTY SEIZURES FOLLOW DRUG ARREST

A Mebane man may pay a hefty price for allegedly failing to purchase
tax stamps for illegal drugs that were seized in his home.

The North Carolina Department of Revenue, working in conjunction with
the Alamance County Sheriff's Department and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) searched the home of Terence Lee Middleton
II, of Mebane.

There, investigators found approximately 280 grams of cocaine, 288
grams of marijuana, two handguns, more than $5,400 in cash, and some
drug paraphernalia.

According to Sheriff's Department spokesman Randy Jones, the drugs
carried a street value between $30,000 and $35,000.

According to police reports, authorities arrested Middleton and
charged him with one count of trafficking in cocaine, one count of
manufacture of cocaine, one count of felony possession of cocaine, one
count of felony possession of marijuana, one count of maintaining a
dwelling to keep of sell a controlled substance, one count of
possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of possession of drug
paraphernalia, and two counts of animal cruelty.

He was placed in the Alamance County Jail under $500,000 bond.

Jones said that ATF officers seized the handguns and the North
Carolina Department of Revenue took most of Middleton's property,
including "several vehicles." Jones did not know the makes and models
of those vehicles.

To justify the seizure, Department of Revenue officers used an obscure
law that requires drug dealers to obtain tax stamps for their drugs.
The stamps are similar to the ones that appear on a pack of cigarettes.

"It is one of the most effective things that they have ever done to
drug dealers, making these property seizures," explained Jones. "The
way the law is written...if we seize the dope and you don't have your
tax stamps, there is a hefty civil fine to go with that."

According to the law, Middleton would owe $14,050 in state excise
taxes on the cocaine and an additional $1,008 for the marijuana.

According to Ron Starling, director of the Unauthorized Substance Tax
Division of the Department of Revenue, Middleton would also owe
$6,023.20 in penalties, and, if he chooses not to pay the tax
immediately, he would also incur five percent interest per year, even
if he is in prison while the interest is accruing.

Starling also said that the tax is a civil matter and that Middleton
does not have to be convicted in a criminal court for the state to
assess the tax and seize his property.