A moonshine operation was accidentally discovered when a North Carolina man called deputies to report he had been targeted by a gunman, according to the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.
No gunman was not found during a security check of the property, officials said.
However, deputies still found an “active” moonshine, the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
It happened Friday, March 10, at a home on Kings Mill Road in Valdese, about 70 miles northwest of Charlotte, officials said.
“Deputies responded to a call that a passerby had been stopped by (a man) saying he had been shot at and that he was being pursued,” the sheriff’s office reported.
“Deputies arrived at Messer Road and … escorted him home. At (his) request, deputies checked his residence and while conducting a security check of the house, found firearms and a barrel of an active production of non-taxed alcohol, including raw materials and a fermentation vessel with materials for brewing called mash.”
They discovered “several holes in the wall” that appeared to show the man had “fired his firearm into the house,” officials said.
Deputies obtained a search warrant, which revealed two weapons in the home, including “a shotgun with a barrel length of less than 18 inches,” officials said.
Deputies also alerted NC Alcohol Law Enforcement, which seized the “moonshine still,” officials said.
The 52-year-old man was arrested and charged with gun possession by a felon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, officials said. Bond was set at $30,000.
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