A quiet Sunday night outside Mooresville's Selma Burke Recreation Center turned into something closer to a crime drama, after what police describe as a routine check ended with a near-pound marijuana seizure, one man in jail and another now wanted.
Officers say they pulled up to the closed facility on Sunday, found two men by a parked car, detained one and watched the other bolt. What started as a simple encounter quickly shifted into a narcotics investigation, and a search of the vehicle uncovered what investigators called distribution-level quantities of suspected marijuana.
What police say
According to a press release from the Town of Mooresville, an officer saw two men standing next to a parked car near the Selma Burke Recreation Center around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 22. The town reports the center was closed at the time, and that a search of the vehicle turned up 430.6 grams of suspected marijuana.
Charges and custody
As reported by Iredell Free News, the man detained at the scene was identified as 20-year-old Nazir Cartrell Lowe of Salisbury. He faces charges of possession with intent to sell and deliver a Schedule VI controlled substance, felony possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance and maintaining a vehicle for the sale of a controlled substance.
Iredell Free News reports Lowe was transported to the Iredell County Detention Center and held without bond. Arrest warrants have been obtained for 26-year-old Xavier Deion Lowe of Clemmons, who police say fled the scene.
Pattern of recent enforcement and how to help
The encounter outside Selma Burke is not the only sizable drug find Mooresville officers have logged recently. Earlier this week, police recovered hundreds of grams of marijuana along with several other suspected drugs during a Feb. 21 vehicle search on Alcove Road, according to WSOC.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Xavier Lowe is asked to contact Mooresville Police Department at 704-664-3311 or Mooresville South Iredell Crimestoppers at 704-658-9056.
